


Of Makeup, making up and making out

by Multi_Elle



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Makeup artists, Bickering, Coming of Age, Do you get the feminist message of this story or do I need to speak louder, Like mostly bickering, Liu Yangyang is a pansexual genius do I need to say more, M/M, Rivals to Lovers, TLDR: let people do what they want, There's conflict but no angst, With a touch of youtuber!Ten, light internalized homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28550256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multi_Elle/pseuds/Multi_Elle
Summary: His eyes caught onto one comment that was from a certified account that wasn't unfamiliar as of recently. @Qian_KunMUA, whose account he was looking at only a few hours ago.It read " Seems like the awards won't be so hard to win (or will they?) "Even though the comment may have been posted with malicious intents, it made Ten smile.First because one of the people he considered part of his most serious competitors had the same feeling about him, second because it was enough to bring back to life the flame of competition that had been dying, crushed under his anxiety.Whoever this Kun guys thought he was, Ten would make sure to put him back where he belonged.(In second place.)------------------Aka Ten and Kun both are makeup artists with very different backgrounds. When they get paired up for a makeup contest, things could only go wrong (right?)
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun
Comments: 30
Kudos: 84





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> . First of all, thank you for giving this a shot!  
> . If a term is followed by a little star *, it means I explain it at the bottom of the chapter so you can follow the story even without a perfect english or knowledge about makeup!!  
> . Kun is Taiwanese in this for plot convenience, aka gay marriage is only legal there and not in China, and so he can have a brother  
> . It was not on purpose in the beginning, but I realized halfway through the third chapter that I actually wrote the entire Qian family with a good range of ADHD symptoms XD I found it interesting so hi, here is the ADD/ADHD Qian family!  
> . I am not a native-english speaker, and though this was proofread by myself and my lovely beta-reader, some mistakes may remain and I'm extremly sorry for them
> 
> Already mentionned her but a thousand thank you to Chinihona for helping me with this fic and being overall an adorable person ˆ-ˆ I'm really looking forward to your Nomin fic!

_ 1st of February- 3 months before the finalists announcement _

" Sawadee Krub , this is Ten! Glad to see you didn't run away and decided to stick on my channel."

He smiled at his camera with confidence, sitting in a simple room in front of a huge library which held a variety of books in multiple languages.

" I decided to take part in this year's NMT awards! Fear not if you don't know what the hell that is because I will explain everything thanks to my awesome wikipedia knowledge. "

He looked for something outside of the camera's vision field, and reappeared with a bag of makeup the size of his head.

" Because I'm not that boring I'll apply glitter to my face while I introduce you to this competition, in case you've never heard of it or want to compete yourselves. The theme for today's makeup is the theme of the competition's first challenge, which is...candy fantasy! "

He did some little jazz hands with an ear-wide smile, too excited for his usual sarcasm. Bah, his viewers would deal with it just fine. If they wanted salt they had all of his other videos to refer to.

" I decided to go for cotton candy, because I feel like my makeup lately has been really like... gothic and while I've been loving the drama I wanted a bit more variety and some kind of a challenge. While this is going to be artistic it probably won't be easy to do, so please refer to some more in depth tutorials of mine that will be way easier to follow.

As always I'll start off with the skin so let's some foundation and apply that with a little sponge thingy. "

The video cut and he came back with some cat-ears headband and a discernible frown.

" Please don't laugh at me, I lost my usual headband and had to borrow this from my roommate. I'm pretty sure he's a furry or something."

" Enough dwelling on my roommate's kinks, let me talk about the competition for a bit" he said while starting to apply his foundation. " So the NMT face awards is a makeup contest held each year by the makeup brand NMT, full name Neo Makeup Technology, that makes makeup artists from all around the continent compete around two themes. The first phase is digital voting, then the judges pick their favorites top ten competitors. Those are the finalists. Wait, let me grab my concealer...for concealer and powder, I'll use the NMT products in the shade honey. They're affordable and the shade range* is kind of amazing, so I really recommend them to you. "

" As I was saying, ten contestants are picked. Those ten finalists will be presented a new challenge and will have up to a week to come up with a look and realize it. The judges’ votes count for half of the points, the viewer's count for the other half. We combine the two and the contestant with the most points wins. "

He opened the bag that he had brought, getting some pink shimmer, blush, an unknown bottle, colored hairspray and some cotton out of it.

" Why do I have all of those? Wouldn't you like to know " he said with a wink to the camera. " More seriously, I'll apply this pink highlighter and the blush on my cheeks and forehead, and then I will use some latex to stick cotton onto my face. For the latex, I have a more in-depth video on the matter. "

He paused for a few seconds before chuckling.

" That sounds very wrong. "

He grabbed the pink highlighter before starting his explanations again.

" So the competition starts today and the two themes you have to create a look for are "candy fantasy" and "bird of a feather." Both looks have to be posted on Instagram with the hashtag #NMTAsia2020 before the first of May. If you want to enter the contest yourself, please remember that you have to be at least 18 years old, must be from East Asia and have to speak some level of english as it is the contest's official language. Though don't worry, they will be translators for korean, Hindi, mandarin, japanese and tagalog. Kinda sucks that they didn't include Thai but they probably can't hire someone for every language "

Once the pink highlighter was done, he started gluing some cotton on his temple, fuzzing it up and symmetrically applying some on his hair and on a portion of his jaw.

" Now, the trick is to use some 1-day coloration spray to color your hair and the cotton. Be very careful with your eyes but aside from that feel free to go feral. Up next are the eyes so I will go for a very...doll-y look? Like some sweet pink and silver cut crease. If y'all don't get diabetes from this look, then I did something wrong. "

He didn't talk much while working on his eyes, he never did. This was by far his favorite part and the focus he had was out of this world.

" And now for the liner...I promise I won't go gothic but this is going to be dramatic because it's me, so brace yourselves. "

One thick black wing on each of his lids, some mascara, pink mascara too, brows pomade, sequins and lip gloss later he was ready and turned back to the camera with a smile.

" Here it is! My interpretation of the first theme, " Candy fantasy ". I hope you like it, and wish me good luck! I'll post my second look on friday so please stay tuned. "

" A few more rules I wanted to communicate: You are allowed to bring your own makeup supplies if you are selected in the top 10 but you don't have to, you are not allowed to be helped and you can be a makeup professional but amateurs will be privileged. "

" Great I think that's all, so see you next time everyone, I hope your week won't suck too bad. "

He reached forward to shut off the camera, cracking his neck as he did so. He felt like his look was a bit underwhelming. Sure it was nice and very eye-catching, but maybe it lacked subtility?

" Hey Ten did you see my- Wait why are you pink? "

Well, he reassured himself as his roommate barged into the room with the noise of ten overweight elephants, nothing would ever lack subtlety as badly as Yangyang did.

" Why do you think? This is clearly a Pinky pie cosplay. "

Yangyang threw a pillow at him, that Ten luckily was able to avoid ( the laundry would have been interesting if he hadn't. )

" Right. It's for your makeup competition thing ? "

" Yep. By the way you're going to vote for me right? "

" Ahaha yeah of course " he said while slowly backing off.

" Yangyang? "

The kid was already gone.

Ten shot up and ran after him, dodging his cat and the catch in the process before finally catching him and by extension his phone and opening his Instagram. Maybe after this instance the guy would reconsider putting four times the number 4 at his password.

It took him about 45 seconds to realize he had liked the publication of someone who was very much not him.

" Oh the betrayal. "

" It's not betrayal if she's hot. "

Ten reconsidered the photo with a raised - pink and gliterry - eyebrow. 

The look was simple yet terribly efficient. 

If he went for bold pink, this person played with soft blue and lilac. A vintage look depicting vintage candies.

As for the model, well she objectively was hot- too hot for it not to be her job. He opened the picture's description to see that the model's and the makeup artist's instagrams were indeed two different accounts.

He clicked on the latter to show a very professional page with professional contacts and professional photoshoots.

Qian Kun. What was a guy with his portfolio doing in this kind of contest?

" See? You didn't even endorse her, you endorsed a guy! "

Yangyang took the phone back before smiling again.

" Well he's hot too so we're good. "

Ten rolled his eyes as his roomate's pansexual shenanigans, before giving him a slight tap on the head.

" You're aware this is a makeup contest, not a beauty pageant? "

" Yeah but I don't know shit about makeup. "

" Well I know shit about makeup. And let me tell you, this guy's looks are too controlled, too watered down, not spontaneous enough, too...

\-------

"...amateurish, not precise enough, too...just too much! "

The actress giggled, putting her phone down.

" You were right about signing him up for the contest, Mrs. Wang. This is just too fun. "

Kun sighed before starting to work on her makeup again.

He worked for a very respected Taiwanese talk show, and sweetheart and rising star Xuan Lu was going on set in fifteen minutes. This was no time to discuss the debatable decisions of his very-impulsive boss.

She watched him from afar with a grin, her glossy red shoes and glossy red lips matching as always.

" I think this influencer is one of the contestants you should worry about the most. While you're going to be favored by the judges, he will be favored by the viewers. He's incredibly popular to the general public in both Thailand and Korea, and let's not lie to ourselves you almost only work behind the scenes. "

" So I'm competing against youtubers now? "

" Well if you think it will be that easy, you shouldn't stress about this right?" she said with a wink.

" I will be rooting for you, Kun-ge! " said the actress from her seat, immediately bringing a smile to his lips.

" Thanks Lulu. Okay, you're all set to go. " he declared with a last straw of his powder brush. " I'll come fix your makeup during the break so don't stress, I've got everything covered. Thank you for modeling for my first look, by the way. "

" You're welcome, I felt absolutely lovely! I'll be going now, thank you Kun, Ms. Wang " she said as she excused herself from the makeup lounge.

His supervisor got up, helping him clean the makeup station.

" She's a pretty one, isn't she? "

Kun nodded distractedly with a polite smile.

" I'm sure you could get her number if you asked. This girl wouldn't refuse you anything. "

He stopped his movements for a few seconds, before going back to gathering his brushes.

" I think I could, but it would be extremely unprofessional of myself. She's here to have her makeup done, not to be flirted with. " he declared.

Ms. Wang tapped onto his shoulder with a smile that was on this fine line between sorry and amused.

" I just think a nice girl could make you happy Kun. Maybe you should try meeting new people at the contest, don't you think? Get out of your work bubble. "

" We don't know if I'm going to be in the top ten participants. "

" Don't think I didn't see you dodge the dating question young man "she said, making him cringe a bit inside. " And though you are right, weren't you the one who said that there was no difficulty in competing with internet sensations? "

" I said it was pointless, not that it was easy. Which is why I should be working on my second look right about now. "

The woman sighed, starting to walk away, followed by the characteristic clicking sound of her heels.

" See? More work. Let yourself go a little Kun, or I will start thinking you're incapable of love. " she said before walking out of the room.

The moment she got out of sight his polite smile fell, and he sighed as he let himself fall back into a couch.

It wasn't that he was incapable of love, he thought as he scrolled through his phone that was still set on this TenOutOfTen guy's channel, locking the screen the moment his eyes fell onto an old video with an obnoxious rainbow thumbnail.

It just wasn't love that his supervisor could understand.

\--------------------------------------------

_ 22nd of March- 1 month and 9 days before the finalists announcement _

" Mr. Leechaiyapornkul put your color pen down. First grade was over more than ten years ago. "

He slightly jumped in his seat, startled by the teacher's call. His pen was back in his pencil case in seconds, his eyes glued on the board as if they never left it. He couldn't afford his parents hearing anything about a lack of attention in class or he could bid farewell to his rent. He made money out of youtube but not enough to pay it for more than two or three months, even by splitting with Yangyang.

Truth was he didn't really care for the class. He wanted to study makeup, his parents wanted him to study new technologies, guess who won. At least they agreed to him having a channel on the side. Not that they could have stopped him but still, it was nice to have their approval even if it wasn't like they watched it.

Next to him Yangyang was scribbling like crazy, taking notes of each and every word that slipped through the professor's lips. That was one kid that found his vocation. Why did he randomly choose to study in Thailand? Who knew (even though Ten suspected a girlfriend as he saw him hang out with that Minnie girl more than one time). But he definitely enjoyed the hell out of their informatic course. This kid was infuriating, the kind that took nothing seriously, never really worked but still was an ace. Ten loved him.

" Did you draw that? "

He turned to his right to find a boy looking at his notebook where a small sketch of a face full of colors had been drawn just minutes before.

" Ah yes. It's a makeup look. "

" Makeup? You do makeup? " he asked with a questioning smile. " Isn't that a girl thing though? "

" I'll put my fist in your nose and we'll see if that's a girl thing ".

Ten almost laughed at Yangyang's sudden interruption especially since he had seemed so captivated only seconds ago, but remembered the teacher's presence and decided against that.

" Let's not come to that. No it's not a girl thing. " he simply concluded, not in the mood for a debate.

" Oh. Then why don't you wear makeup to school? "

This was a question Ten usually didn't get in that kind of conversation, hence why he was a little taken aback by it.

"... Well probably because people think it's a girl's thing? "

Yangyang was still angry about the interaction when they came back to their shared apartment the same afternoon, and who was Ten to stop his hilarious annoyed rambling. It wasn't like it was an uncommon comment, and Ten wasn't even sure he minded. Usually people left him alone, when they didn't get homophobic. Those were the worst.

" What was your drawing anyway? " asked Yangyang once he calmed down a bit, trying to take a glance in Ten's notebook.

" What I plan to do for the NMT awards, like my second look. I want something really mind blowing you know? I think I'll be going for a peacock-inspired look so I can use some blue-green duochromes*."

" I have no idea of what the hell a duochrome is but go for it. "

" Duo-chrome. Two colours. Did little Yangyang skip latin classes? "

" Well he was in classes long enough to know 'chrome' is a greek word, not a latin one"

Ten rolled his eyes again as he stepped into his room, smiling at the sight of his cat sleeping on the bed. Someone here was peaceful, at least.

There was nothing peaceful about Ten, he had accepted that by now. He was always giving his everything, his mind always overfilled with ideas, designs and projects. Well except for when he needed them, of course, because that just was how things worked wasn't it?

He casted a glance to all of his palettes and face paints, then back at his brushes before smiling.

Why settle for one bird when he could have  _ ten _ of them?

He sketched his new idea on a spare piece of paper, before fetching everything he'd need. This was going to be one hell of a look.

Through the years he had accumulated a decent amount of products, and now his mirror and cabinets filled half of his room. In the other half was a desk with his computer and drawing supplies, as well as a keyboard he promised his parents he'd practice with. And while this was not a promise he kept, it still made some cool, chill sunday nights.

Makeup was a weird hobby to start. You rarely thought "I'm going to get good at makeup" and just went with it. Most of the time you played around with your mother's makeup as a kid, experimented with khôl pen and eyeliner in middle school and fell down the rabbit hole in high school or college. 

It wasn't what happened for Ten though, for two main reasons: one, his mother didn't wear makeup (maybe some mascara and lipstick here and there but nothing much) and two, wearing makeup at school was out of the question. He couldn't even wear his hair longer than a finger so barging in with a full face*? Yeah not happening.

He had to wait until his older sister got into college to steal her stuff and start playing with shimmers, to discover that it wasn't that different from painting, and to fall in love with it. As for his channel, blame it on Yangyang. 

He brought up the idea the year they started living together, saying something along the lines of " a lot of big beauty influencers are men now " and " originally makeup was unisex, and actually more directed for men as it has roots in war paints and in religious rituals, which were orchestrated by men". And while Ten was not sure why he knew that, it had helped.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror, smiling at the bird shapes that were slowly forming. At the same time he realised that this was going to be long, very long.

And he was right because it ended up taking seven hours*. His eyes were malfunctioning by the end of it, but his heart was beating faster.

He had half a zoo on his face, going from his right eye to his left, colored powder and paint running down his temple, wings all over his forehead.

He was not going for minimalism, he was going for a dream. A scenery the judges wouldn't be able to forget.

He had a good scale: if Yangyang found it pretty, he'd done a good job. And when he sees him his jaw drops to the floor so Ten would say that is a mission well accomplished.

He takes a picture, posts it on instagram and all that is left for him to do is to pray for the best.

He loses himself browsing the NMT hashtag, seeing what the competition looks like. The range of skills and styles is wild, and all of the sudden he's not that sure that he would ever land in the top ten.

He couldn’t stop himself from looking up the guy Yangyang had complimented the work of the day prior (got the favors of his best friend? The guy basically was his nemesis now. ) 

His second look was out as well, and Ten had to admit it was good.

\----------------------------------------------------------

_ 21st of March- 1 month and 10 days before the finalists announcement _

  
  


" She did it again? "

" Taking decisions for me without my consent? You bet she did. "

His brother laughed as he took another straw of his cigarette, blowing the smoke through his nose, perfectly aware that it would make Kun wince.

" Welcome to the lovely life of employment, mr. artist " he said after some time. " What boss wants boss gets, you know? "

" Trust me I know. I don't even know why it pisses me off that bad. Maybe because she always acts as if she knew what would be good for me better than I do. "

" Kun she may be a bitch but you're oblivious. "

He crushed the cigarette under his foot, letting the flame die down before he went on. That was a habit of his: free his hands when he was about to have an important conversation.

" I don't know if this competition is a good idea or not, but I know two things: once you're half-right, she has no business telling you what to do with your life, two, you're half wrong, because at this point I think anyone knows what would be good for you better than you. You are drowning yourself into work. What are you trying to prove? "

" That I'm good. Like always. "

His brother sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder.

" Kun...This excuse worked five years ago but now you've worked with celebrities, you are renowned. No one doubts you're good. No one but you, and maybe that's why a contest is what she suggested of all things. "

He sat in silence, relishing on a stray ray of sun that hit the back wall of the restaurant his brother worked at. Well, currently worked at. He couldn't keep a job for more than three months or so it seemed, to his wife's dismay. Kun selfishly relished in it, because the fact that he earned more than his brother was the last thing giving him value to their parent's eyes.

Not knowing what to say, refusing to admit he was right, he resorted to silence and extended his hand towards him.

" Would you happen to have a cigarette left? "

" You're kidding yourself if you think I'm letting you touch that. I'm quitting anyway. Can't let Zhaohui get sick "

" Wow Chao, people will wonder who's the big brother now " he said with a laugh that Chao could only imitate.

They parted ways quickly after that, his brother having been called back to work. They saw each other often anyway, he would not die from the separation. Contrary to popular belief, he was not that lonely.

He walked all the way to the salon where he worked when he didn't have a TV deal which meant every wednesday and saturday. His favorite type of job was, by far, makeup for movies or runaways, but he was still too young in his career to access more than two or three of those. He was actually lucky to have landed any. In the meantime he tried gaining renown and experience by fulfilling the brief that he was given.

He waited in the cold for about 20 minutes for the manager to come back for her lunch break and open the shop, the lady not even bothering to ask why he was here so early. She had grown used to it.

He didn't have to wait long for his first client to come, a woman that had to be in her late 20's. She immediately walked over to him, getting some paper sheets out of her bag and placing them over his makeup station.

" Hi. I am going to be a bridesmaid for my best friend's wedding, and I wanted to get my makeup done. Can you do that?"

Kun sticked on a professional smile, casting a glance at the reference pictures printed on the paper. Soft brown, a dash of pink shimmer. He casted a glance over his palette of bold colors with a regretful smile. Not today, apparently.

" Yes of course. Do you have any requirements? " he asked

" Make me look pale, I've been getting a bit too tan lately. Make me look thin too. "

Kun nodded, getting his material ready as the girl got her coat off and got into the chair. Her hair and dress were already all nice and shimmery, luckily he could manage to match this vibe.

He couldn't hold back a grimace as he applied white spray to her collarbones. If monolids-friendly eyeshadow shapes were his favorite thing about the chinese makeup trend, this one was the worst (okay, the worst actually popular one). But what could he do, what the client wants the client gets. This was definitely why he prefered to work on sets, at least it was not the model's responsibility to choose what to wear.

" Aren't you applying a bit too much? " suddenly asked her client as he powdered her face.

" No, don't worry. It's just that if there is a photographer at the wedding, they're going to use a flash wich reverberates a lot of light on the skin. If you want to keep it matte, you'll have to wear a lot of powder."

" That's not what I heard on youtube though " she started, making a bit of Kun's soul fly out of his body, sending him back to the conversation he had with his boss a few days prior. This was exactly why he disliked influencers: they had, as their name indicated, a lot of influence that was not backed up with actual knowledge.

" I hear that you had to put white powder under the eyes and under the cheekbones and let it sit. It's called 'baking'. You've heard of that? "

' Look at you who just defeated my 3 years of studies and 5 years of experience thanks to a 10 minutes long video you found on the internet ' said no makeup artist ever, and definitely not Kun. The remark didn't make him that mad, though. Firstly because he rarely got mad, secondly because he got that kind of remark at least twice a week.

" I have. The fact that letting the powder sit longer will make the face better is a myth, the light and eerie effect comes from the powder, not the technique. Additionally, it's an american makeup technique. We don't use it professionally here. " he said, his smile not faltering.

" Ah. Well, you don't wear makeup anyway. "

Kun refrained the urge to roll his eyes. " I don't like wearing makeup. I like doing makeup. "

This apparently was a thought that had to be too complex for the client, because she didn't risk a reply. Kun wasn't going to complain. 

He still gave his all to do a nice job, though. He was not letting her get out of the salon before he was sure she would be the bridesmaid with the most flawlessly executed makeup. Maybe perfection would make up for the lack of creativity.

Not that he blamed her, color was somewhat terrifying. Just so visible! Kun didn't like visible, one step wrong and it'd be obvious like the nose in the middle of the face. His thoughts wandered to the video Ms. Wang had shown him to convince him he had serious competitors, the guy who had painted his face fully pink, and he couldn't refrain a snicker. He had to say the idea of coaxing his face in bright pink sounded like an interesting experience.

" Here we go " he said with a final touch of lipstick, smiling wide - for real, this time. " You may even be prettier than the bride now. "

" There's no bride. " she said without missing a beat. " My friend's a man. They're both men. "

Kun stilled at this declaration, his hand hovering over a tube of mascara for a bit too long.

" I'm sorry for assuming it was a straight couple. " He finally said.

" That's fine " said the girl with a raise of her shoulders and a tiny smile. " I'm sorry for assuming you didn't know makeup because wow, look at that! " she continued while grinning at the mirror.

The professional smile came back to Kun's face as he remembered that yes, you could be open minded and still an asshole. At the end of the day he did an awesome job, got paid, and the knowledge that she was going to see a gay wedding made his day.

Which didn't mean that when he ended his workday his apartment didn't feel way too far, as it always did, and so he let himself fall back on his couch the moment he reached it.

He knew because of his perfectionism people often assumed his apartment would be neat with clear organization, but the problem with living space was that it was impossible to keep at its best all the time. Which meant that he opted to never have it at its best. Way less time-consuming.

Kun started thinking that maybe his brother was right when the first thing he did to unwind was reach for his graphic tablet, ready to sketch his second look for the NMT awards. 

He knew that he wanted something different this time, more than just a pretty face.

What he knew the best was graphic looks*. Pure, clean lines and shapes, solid colors.

Bird of a feather, he could work with that. He could work with anything.

He was almost done when his phone chimed, notifying that his brother had just sent a message.

' From: Qian Chao

Look who wanted to say hi!!! '

He opened the attached picture, laughing a bit when the face of his nephew appeared, more or less smothered in paint and way too close to the camera.

' From: Qian Kun

He just keeps getting taller and taller, doesn't he? Tell him Uncle Kun thinks he did an amazing job with those colors! ' he responded before putting his phone down.

But before he could move on to something else, his thoughts started racing. Kid, paint, makeup, his brain took shortcuts before coming up with one truly crazy idea.

He took a hold of his phone again, immediately opening the messaging app.

' From: Qian Kun

Actually Chao, does Zhaohui want to come over tomorrow afternoon? I'll bake some crepes'

\------------------------------------------------------------

It was a beautiful bird.

A mockingbird, to be exact, that curled from the boy's left eye all the way to his cheek. All in geometrical shapes and plain, solid colours.

The artist had used only three: blue, yellow and red , that's it. A perfect contrast between the crazy work of the person who did the makeup and the model who appeared to be a little kid, not a day older than 5.

And wherehas Ten had felt like the other's first submission was a bit lacking, he could appreciate the polished finish of this one.

" Hey Yangyang, could you come here for a sec? I need your opinion on something. "

The other approached while munching on something, stoppin a second to look at Ten's phone screen.

" Do you think this is pretty? "

" Yeah!" He said with a nod. "I like the colors, it's simple. "

Shit, he had also passed the Yangyang test. Ten definitely had one hell of a competitor.

And if only it had been just him!

While he didn't think everyone could compare to his work, he had been able to pinpoint at least forty makeup artists with just as equally mind blowing pieces on their accounts.

He sighed as he threw his makeup away, knowing that it would be worthless to stress out. His two looks had been posted, all his cards were on the table and he couldn't do anything but wait. And what better to do to change his mind than to work?

" Hey Yangyang? " he called again, making his friend come back to his room - again -

" What now? "

" Could you do a video with me please???? " he said with big puppy eyes, ineffective ones since the younger remained expressionless.

" You will never let me do my homework, will you? "

" Oh come on, we both know you'll ace the test. "

" I probably will, but what about you? "

" Ouch? " was all Ten could answer, because Yangyang was completely right.

He ended up sighing and raising his hands in defeat, moving closer so he could sit in front of Ten.

" What kind of video did you want to do? " he asked.

" You know the 'my boyfriend does my makeup' challenge? We could do something like that! I mean you're not my boyfriend, but you should try to do my makeup. "

" I don't know shit about makeup "

" That's the whole point! Come on, pleaaaassse?"

Yangyang sighed again, for what had to be the 20th time this day, before nodding. " Okay. Go turn your camera on, nerd"

Ten didn't replicate and rushed to his device before Yangyang had enough time to back up on his decision.

" Sawadee Krub, this is Ten! A little impromptu video to take my mind off of things and to bring back Yangyang on my channel since you loved him the first time, when I offered him a drag queen makeover. "

For sure, ' Drama queen to Drag queen' probably was one of his most popular videos now. Yangyang didn't shut up about it for two weeks. Was he setting himself up for the same scenario to repeat again? Probably. But it was worth it if it could make his anxiety shut up.

" This was completely unplanned but I decided to go for what is traditionally called the 'my boyfriend does my makeup' challenge. Except I have no boyfriend, so this is more like 'my Yangyang does my makeup'. Please introduce yourself. " he said while gesturing to his friend.

" Hi! I'm Yangyang, Ten's roommate. Don't be too harsh on me, I suck at makeup. Okay, should we start? "

" Yes, let me just put my hair back. "

He grabbed a random hairband while Yangyang started opening drawers and makeup bags.

" So I'm starting with the flesh. " he said after a while, holding a tube full of light beige foundation.

" That's a terrifying way of putting it. "

" Shut up, I'm the makeup artist now. "

Ten shuckled but didn't reply, letting Yangyang work on his face. Thanks to some miracle he actually managed to pick the right sponge for it, and the shade wasn't too off. So far so good.

" Okay now...damn what do you do after....ah yes, powder!! I used to call it cocaine but Ten wasn't a fan. "

" Wonder why. " he mumbled, not low enough to avoid Yangyang tapping him with his brush. he had been less lucky this time and it ended up being a highlighter brush, thin and flat, the opposite of what it had to be. This would take some time. 

And time it took.

When they finished the video the sun was setting, giving him a perfect golden hour glow to take a pretty instagram picture. Well, more or less pretty. Yangyang had done an okay job, if you ignored the bronzer* that was two shades too dark and the liner that went all the way to the brow.

As soon as the picture was out his account got flooded by likes and comments, a few hateful messages as well that he always carefully took the time to delete, one by one. While he tried to convince himself that he was unaffected by them and only wanted to shield his community for years, he couldn't ignore the fact that they hurt. And 'I don't have to get hurt' seemed like a good enough motto to live by.

As he did exactly that his eyes caught onto one comment that was from a certified account that was unfamiliar to him. Well not so much lately. @Qian_KunMUA whose account he was looking at only a few hours ago.

It read " Seems like the awards won't be so hard to win (or will they?) "

Even though the comment may have been posted with malicious intent, it made Ten smile.

First because the one of the people he considered part of his most serious competitors had the same feeling about him, second because it was enough to bring back to life the flame of competition that had been dying, crushed under his anxiety.

Whoever this Kun guys thought he was, Ten would make sure to put him back where he belonged.

(In second place.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are a few words if you want!!!
> 
> Shade range: Quite a transparent word, basically when you create a foundation you choose which colors to manufacture and let's say some brands apparently forgot people of color existed, or existed in more than one shade :)
> 
> Duochromes: sparkly eyeshadow that change colors depending from the lightning and where you look. Example: https://pin.it/22OM3H7
> 
> Full-face: Having a full face on means having gone through every step of makeup on your face resulting in a rather 'heavy' yet very glam look
> 
> The time- Seven hours is not ridiculous when you do creative makeup. It's very long but far from unheard of. Some people work on looks for like two days it's crazy (not me though I never take more then two hours I have 0 patience)
> 
> Graphic looks- Here's what I'm talking about (for example): https://pin.it/3YdwW3G  
> (PS: if you're into makeup, check out @raincornelius on instagram)
> 
> Bronzer: brown powder you use to make your face look warmer and more sculpted  
> \------------
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! If you're here before the story's completion, note that I will update it every monday for a total of five chapters. Have a good week! :D


	2. Chapter 2

1st of May- Day of the finalists announcement

" You're stressed about it, admit it. "

Kun sighed as his brush gently stroked Xuan Lu's lids, coating them in light red shimmer.  
Red like Ms. Wang matching gloss and shoes, as always. Ms. Wang who was bothering him, as always.

" I'm not " he answered, trying to convince himself he wasn't lying. " I don't- I told you when you signed me up for it, this competiton is stupid. "

" Which is why you gave your all into creating two stunning looks? Without mentioning that you got here after me this morning. Did someone have any troubles sleeping? "

Touché. But it wasn't because of the contest, Kun just had to deal both with particularly irritating clients and a particularly big wave of loneliness the day before. Maybe the latter appeared when he realized that even if he landed in the finalists he would have no one to celebrate with, but it didn't mean he was stressed.

" Don't worry Kun, you will make the cut " said the soft voice of Xuan Lu, words carelessly pronounced as she tried not to make her face move to avoid ruining her makeup.  
" I don't care about making the cut " he said, maybe a bit more harshly than intended.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

" I'm sorry. I have been a bit anxious lately, you're right about that. You're not responsible for that Lulu. "  
She made notice of his apology with a gesture of the hand, smiling sweetly at him.  
" It's fine. Trust me, if anyone has as much work as you it probably is me. Between the interviews, the movie sets, the events... I love my job, more than anything, but sometimes I need a change of pace. Maybe you do too? "

Kun thought back to how happy he had been to find his ideas, to realize looks he wasn't used to doing, to finally get his colorful palette out of the shelf it was hibernating in. To feel the rush of competition.

" You're right. I guess I just like the way things are now. "  
" Do you? " replied Ms. Wang, barging into the conversation once again but with Kun's phone in hand, this time. " Such a shame, because it seems like you just got a very sweet message " she said with a sly smile.

He let his brush down, his heart beating with excitement.

" What do you mean? "

" What I mean is that you, Mr Qian..."

\-----------------------------------------------------

"... are part of the ten concurrents to be picked by the jury to participate in the second round of the NMT face awards Asia 2020. The challenges will be held from the 15th of May to the 30th of May in Seoul, South Korea. Any travelling expense will be covered, and you will be housed and fed for the duration of your stay. Congratulations! "

Ten almost threw his phone against the floor in excitement, deciding against it at the last second as phones tended not to be floor-proof. Instead he got up in a flash and raced to his roommate's room to share the news.

" Yangyang!! Yangyang I-"

He mentally slapped himself as he opened the door to an empty room and remembered that the kid was on a date. Because of course, of all days it had to be this one he had to have a date on.  
Would it be crazy to call him? It would be rude to interrupt his date, right?? But at the same time he couldn't celebrate alone, that would be sad.

He decided against his morals and searched his phone for Yangyang's contact. It was just a phone call after all.

" Pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up..." he chanted as he felt more and more like a kettle about to explode.

" Tell me you didn't burn anything. "

Ten didn't think hearing his voice would ever make him so happy.

" Yangyang I got in!!!! I've been selected as a finalist for the NMT awards!!!!!!! " he screamed.

" What?! You mean the makeup thing?? Ten that's awesome! Ah, I never doubted you would make it my precious baby. "

" One, you probably did, second, call me that again and I'll kick your face. "

" Okay, calm down grandpa " he replied with a laugh.

Once his excitement level started to stabilize, Ten could only scrunch his nose.

" I'm sorry to be interrupting your date. I'll let you go back to it. "

" Actually, Ten..." interrupted Yangyang, making him raise a questioning brow. " We really should celebrate. Do you think I could bring my date to the apartment so we can all be happy together? "

Aaaah, there it was.

" You're not using fake niceness to bypass our rule of "don't bring dates home when roomie is here", do you??? "

Fake laughter erupted from the phone, and Ten rolled his eyes. " Naaah I wouldn't do that. "

" Okay, fine, you can bring them along. But that's only because I'm in a really good mood! "

" Yes!!! Ah, I love it when you're in a really good mood. "

" Yeah, me too. "

He didn't have to wait for more than twenty minutes for the door to swing open and an over-enthusiastic (and kind of tipsy) Yangyang to barge in, a bottle of Champagne in hand. A girl was following him, in a similar state, and it didn't take long for Ten to identify her as being the Minnie girl his roommate had been pining over. The good thing with Yangyang was that he was very obvious.

" Champagne? " was the first thing Ten said at their sight. " I haven't won anything yet. "

" We didn't say it was for you " retorqued the younger, passing him the bottle anyway. " Oh, this is Minnie by the way! "

" Hi! " she said with an extended hand that Ten gladly shook. " What are we celebrating? "

" This dumbass got into the finals of a makeup competition."

" A makeup competition? That sounds very cool!! Congratulations! "

" You actually let him drag you all the way here without knowing why? "

Minnie shrugged, going to sit on a chair next to the kitchen counter where Yangyang had popped the bottle open.

" I knew what I was getting into " she said with a smile that Ten could only reciprocate. Yangyang was an idiot, but he was happy that he was someone's idiot.

They probably had been seeing each other for some time, or so he deduced by how casual they seemed to behave around each other, how their clothes weren't fancy as if they were just hanging out.  
Somedays, Ten wished he had something like that.

" Here is your glass " said Yangyang, giving him a champagne flute he didn't know they owned.

" So? " he continued, not losing his smile. " Who else made the cut? "

Riiiight, the other people. In his frenzy, Ten had kind of forgotten about them.

" Let me check " he said as he fetched his phone, opening the NMT instagram page.

" Found it! So the finalists are Vikram Advika, Qian Kun, Benapa "View" Jeenprasom, Go Eunji, Pearl Vargas, Isis Darmawan, Shiota Akiko, Park Jaejoon, Chittaphon "Ten" Leechaiyapornkul and Dao Lan-Chi. "

" Hey look at that my golden boy got in! " said Yangyang with a cheer.

" Your golden boy? It's not Ten? " asked Minnie.

" Don't ask. He saw literally one picture of this Kun guy's work and he decided he would drop three years of friendship to sponsor him. " said Ten in a sigh.

" Don't listen to him, he's a hater. This guy's work is just like...spotless. " retorqued Yangyang while snatching Ten's phone from his hand and going onto his so called 'golden boy' 's profile.

" That's him? " asked the girl while pointing at the screen, to what her date answered with a nod. " Wow he's hot. He could do my makeup anytime if only I wore any. "

" Girl, mood " he answered and they high-fived without looking at each other, the cue Ten took to determine that they were very cute yet very drunk and that he'd better retreat into his room (with his poor previously kidnapped phone. )

He slumped onto the mattress, looking at the list of names one more time. 

He had to admit that most of them were unfamiliar. The exceptions were View, whom he had crossed paths with at several beauty conventions, Pearl whom he had collabed with during a trip to the Philippines (how did he not know she was competing too?? This was a pleasant surprise) and this Kun guy who Yangyang - and his new girlfriend apparently - were obsessed with, the one who left a comment under one of his posts.

He scoffed at that. It was a childish move, but it had the merit to make him want to win even more.

Without thinking too much of it he went back to his own account and made a story, a black background with a single white inscription: 

" Still think taking the win will be easy? @Qian_KunMUA "

\------------------------------------------------

13th of May- Two days before the beginning of the finals

' Winning will be easy for you 😍🧚♀️💅💖 if only you were the only one to compete! '

' You made it into the top Ten, he was born into the top 10 '

' Seems like the awards won't be too hard to lose '

Kun sighed as he scrolled through the comments that multiplied under his last post, all from fans of this TenOuttaTen guy.

" Why did you even comment under his post in the first place? " asked Chao from behind his shoulder as he logged his brother's suitcases into his taxi to the airport.

" Ms.Wang compared me to him some time ago and I took offense, I got cocky and now I'm regretting it. Let's not dwell on it too much, lesson learned. " he mumbled as he shoved his phone into his back pocket.

Seriously, why did he ever do this? 

" That was not my implication. You never get cocky " said Chao as he slammed the truck shut, gesturing to the driver to give them five minutes before he drove off. " You feel threatened, that's all that happens. Threatened, or fascinated. Which one is it? "

" I think I like your implication even less. "

" He seems as crazy as you, that's a perfect opportunity to make a friend there!! Or a nemesis. That would be cool too. "

Kun just stared at him in an awkward disbelief, unsure of what to answer.

"... Sure " is what he settled on.

" Fine, I'm letting you be. Ok, you're all set to go! Win the hell out of this contest, will you? "

Kun flashed him a smile, a real one, hand already holding onto the car door's handle.

" You know I will ".

He watched through the window as the vision of Chao's house faded away, realizing that he was alone once again. 

He didn't know anyone who got picked in the finalists save for this Ten guy, but again he didn't really know him. All the insight he got was that he got decent creative skills, and an easily riled up community. Not a glorious portrait, but at least there was someone who wasn't a stranger.

He used his free time to gather information about the contestants, get an idea of who he was up against.

Out of the nine of them, only two, Akiko and Jaejoon if he remembered their names correctly, weren't social media influencers. The former was completely unknown and the latter was a makeup school student, meaning that he was the only professional here. Knowing this was more of an amateur-orientated contest, this could either play in his favor or be his doom.

Worst case scenario, he'd blame it all on Ms. Wang later.

Age wise the participants ranged from 18 to 33, making him be somewhere in the middle; and they were approximately as diverse when it came to nationalities. With the Republic of China not competing this year, courtesy of their feud with South Korea, countries with smaller populations were better represented.

Yes, he had done his research. Yes, he realized this was turning borderline ridiculous but it was his way of coping.

The taxi arrived right on time, hours before his flight, leaving him in front of the huge airport with nothing but a stern face and his two suitcases. He wasn't going to let anything up to luck, and so he had made sure to take all the tools that could make themselves useful, all the products he was used to.

Even though, let's be real, there was nothing he was used to in this situation.

To disrupt his markers even further, his plan decided it was a great time to face engineering difficulties thus delaying his flight by several hours and having him stuck in a packed airport with nothing to do but wait.

Great.

Sometimes he wished he was the type to slump in a seat and give a stink-eye to anyone who dared look his way, sometimes he felt like it, but he wasn't. Taking his anger out on bypassers was the least intelligent thing he could do right now, so another distraction would have to do.  
He got his phone out and opened the TenOuttaTen channel, deciding that at least he had a reason to be mad at this one guy.   
He rapidly scrolled through the thumbnails, sighing each time he saw a flashy over the top makeup (but definitely happy that his annoyance found a target ). Subtlety Ten, where was the subtlety?

His thumb stopped on a video he already had noticed the first time he ever heard about the guy, the one with the obnoxious rainbow thumbnail. Ironically, the younger didn't seem to have a drop of makeup on for that one. Kun was not complaining.

He clicked the video, drawn by a newly found curiosity. Not that he wanted to pry into anyone's private life, but... he kinda did.

The sudden " Sawadee Krub, this is Ten! " made Kun jump and get his earphones out of his pocket. He wasn't sure the whole airport wanted to hear what obviously was a coming out video ( or maybe he didn't want the whole airport to know that he was watching one. )

" Assuming you can read titles, you already know what this video is about. So hi, I'm Ten, I'm nineteen, and I am gay. "

Nineteen? Had Kun scrolled that far back on Ten's channel???

He should have known from how his style was different then its current state. His hair was significantly shorter, he had less piercings and the background wasn't the same.

" I uh... I don't know if this really is a surprise but at least pretend it is? " he said with an awkward laugh. " I just think I needed to say that so it is out there. My channel is growing, thanks to you lovely subscribers, and with fame... well, 'fame' comes interest. I'd rather have you to learn the news from me. And also I want to know all of you LGBTQ+ people watching me that you are not alone. "

Kun shuffled in his seat, a bit uncomfortable. Maybe he shouldn't have watched the video.  
He didn't stop, though.

" I thought about doing a makeup look like I always do when I tell stories, but I felt like it would just act as a distraction. Do expect me to make your feed explode every pride month, though " he had said with his first real smile since the beginning of the video. " And to be fair, I don't really know what to tell you. Oh, if you've been following me since the creation of my channel, yes I know I used to have a girlfriend but hey, denial makes you do stuff. "

Kun held back a smile as he remembered this one time Chao had tried to set him up with one of his coworkers. Yeah, hadn't been great. His brother couldn't have known though.

" I don't want to have to avoid the subject whenever it comes up, so yeah now that's out there. I don't want to extensively talk about my private life or what is left of it, but I don't want to have to hide it either. Essentially, I don't want to 'have to' do anything. I want to have the choice. "

The last few seconds of the video went by in a blur, mostly some thanks, goodbyes and teasers for upcoming videos.

It left Kun feeling...at peace.

In this packed airport full of noise and people he had somehow found a bubble of understanding. He could fathom why Ms. Wang had told him about this guy, now. (This didn't make up for his extensive use of pink body paint, though. )

He went back to Instagram, not making the mistake of going through public communications this time, instead settling on sending a DM.

" Easy? I don't know" he typed, a bit unsure of what he was doing but unable to stop himself.

"Interesting? I'm starting to think that is possible. "

\-----------------------------

It was not the first time Ten set his foot in South Korea.

He was quite the traveller, and of course it had been one of his destinations. He never got tired of it though, going as far as to learn some basic korean during his stays. Not enough to talk, but he could understand the signs and that was a real plus.

As soon as he had left his suitcase in his hotel room he rushed outside, already eager to get to the venue where the contest would be held. While the first two challenges remained the same in format, it wasn't uncommon for the last one to be really wild. Last year the looks had to be done not only on the face but on most of the body of the models. The year before, the finalists had to come up with a monster makeup using silicone prosthesis.

Probably why he signed up in this contest in the first place, maybe even why he started his channel at all: he loved challenges, art made with weird contraints that were either mediocre or genius. Call it ridiculous if you want but doing your makeup without using your hands? Brilliant. Picking out random colors? Amazing. He was only asking for more.

The venue wasn't too hard to find as it was quite big, the look reveals and final judging being held in the presence of a public. Definitely nerve-wrecking, ironically so. Ten didn't mind saying idiocy in front of a camera and 10 million people, but showing his best work live in front of -at most- 2500 spectators? End him now.

He was let in after a brief ID verification, and the sight of the place made him smile.  
It was a convention hall, some big empty room that would soon be completely filled in, big spotlights on the ground in a mess of cables, people running around testing the audio, making sure everyone had food, making adjustments and so on.

" Ten!! Ten come here!! "

He whipped his head to the right to see a lean girl with stupidly long black hair throw herself at him in a bone-crushing hug, making show of a strength she was not supposed to possess. He reciprocated the hug with a laugh, tearing her off of him so he wouldn't suffocate.

" Hey Pearl! " he greeted, in an English that was getting a bit rusty. " I'm so happy that you chose to compete too! "

" Right?? I didn't warn you because I never thought I'd make it into the top 10 yet here we are!! Do you want to come sit with us? " she proposed, gesturing to a corner where a girl he didn't know waved at him - Advika, if he was to believe her name tag.

" Sure " he said with a nod. " Let me put my makeup wherever I'm supposed to, and I'm all yours. "

Turns out that was only half true, because Yangyang proceeded to rant about how life was so great since he lived alone in their apartment so Ten spent some well needed time on his private instagram account, making a case of giving him the roast he deserved. Despites, he was not dumb, he knew Minnie was there. Not that he cared, as long as they fed his cat.

No, the problem came evident when he decided to pass by his public account and saw how many notifications he had got. It was normal to have plenty of them, but that much?!

He clicked onto one of them, brows furrowed, only to be redirected onto the Kun guy's page. It didn't take him more than twenty second to realize that his account had been flooded with comments from his fans, mostly sarcastic with the occasional troll.

" Shit " was all he could say in front of his screen. Shit, because he had managed to stay out of drama for so long and he was not diving into it for a guy he wasn't even mad about.

Especially since the comments would probably feel funnier if they hadn't been left under the picture of Kun's last model- a literal toddler.

He looked around to see if the guy already got there, and let out a released sigh when he didn't catch the sight of him. Good, because it meant no immediate confrontation. For all he knew, the Kun guy could be the fiery type and he could end up with a broken nose. Not cute, especially on the first day of a makeup competition.  
Though the other hadn't reacted, not a story, not a post, nothing. Radio silence couldn't be that bad, could it?

And Kun had to be a master of the art, because Ten didn't see him at all that day.

True, coming in to visit the venue was not mandatory before the start of the contest which would only be the next day and so he wasn't the only one not to come, but the longer he spent without apologizing, the longer Ten felt like a complete jerk.  
He ended up settling on sending the man a message in excuse for his fan's behavior, deciding against using his private account to do so. If he had a lot of messages, he wouldn't open a text from an unknown username.

Ten realized he was guilty of doing just that the moment he opened his DM's.

Kun's username was sitting there featuring an unread message that had been waiting 14 hours in his inbox, drowned under fan mail, brands trying to get a review and the not-so-occasional spam 

"Easy? I don't know. Interesting? I'm starting to think that is possible "

Ten scoffed, looking around the room for Yangyang or Pearl, someone he could share his reactions with. He was confronted with the inhabitual silence of his hotel room and his own reflection on his phone screen instead, and so his mind just blanked out.

There was another message under this one, also in spotless english, that read " ( I apologize for communicating through public means the first time. Lesson learned). "

His groan echoed as he fell back on his mattress. The playful message almost had him forget about his guilt, but now it just came back running.

Should he answer? Should he not? They would meet in something like ten hours anyway but...

" It's chill ".

He groaned again as he rolled over to lay on his stomach, head against the blanket. What was he, 14? Was that the best he could do?

" I'm sorry actually "

Still not satisfied with his answer, he added " I'm still beating your ass at the competition." 

Deciding that at this point he had been digging his own grave for long enough, he placed his phone where he wouldn't be able to reach it and write some more stupidities and slipped under the covers, trying to sleep his embarrassment away.

\-----------------------------------

15th of May- First day of the finals. 15 days before the deadline.

Kun had woken up early.

Like, really early.

It wasn't on purpose (he was not that much of a control freak) but between the plane complications and the jetlag, he went to bed at 5 PM which resulted in him waking up at 3:30. At least he slept a whole 6 and a half hours? Almost like a regular human, wow who would have thought.

The downside of working on late night shows was that they were, as the title suggested, late at night. The upside was that Kun was used to such a rhythm now, and so neither tiredness nor stress could get to him anymore.

He just felt blank. Not a great feeling. The urge to get himself busy made him hop out of bed, going against the signals buzzing in his head and telling him to get some more rest. The signals in his head had Ms. Wang's voice, maybe that's why he always ignored them.

He worked until it was a decent hour to be awake, booking some more appointments and sending in more job applications to make up for his two weeks-long absence. It wasn't a question of money, it was closer to a desire- no, a need to constantly improve. He couldn't slack off.

Well no matter how he got here, at eight sharp he was in front of the venue that held the award's finals. 

He was not alone, and looking back he guessed he could have seen that coming. Some of the contestants were in a visible state of distress, and he was ready to bet they had been here before the doors even opened. 8 out of the 10 contestants were ready to start, and the realization that he didn't know anyone downed on Kun.

Most of them were influencers. They had seen one another's posts, tutorial and videos, some had already met. Even the two newcomers to the makeup scene knew more people than him- sure they just met everyone, but they had been watching their content for years.

Kun never thought that he'd be feeling any "new kid who just moved towns" embarrassment at age 24, yet here he was, typing on his phone, pretending he actually had something important to do.

He was halfway through reading Facebook's users terms and conditions when he felt someone sit next to him and utter a simple 'hey', interrupting his fascinating activities.

He turned to his left with a questioning look, remaining silent for the few seconds it took his brain to associate the face of the man in front of him to the one he had been seeing through a telephone screen.

" Ah, you're Ten! " he exclaimed when it finally clicked, not entirely meaning to say it out loud.

" Sorry " he continued in his imperfect English, composing himself. " Lack of sleep. I'm Kun, it's nice to meet you. "

The other smiled, shaking the hand he had extended. " Well you know my name, so that's already out of the way" he said with a way cleaner pronunciation and a snicker. " Sorry for disturbing you I just uh...wanted to apologize for the messages you got from my fans. I swear I never told them to do that. Just to be clear, before the whole finals thing begins. "

Kun furrowed his brows, taking a second both to process and to form a coherent answer.

" It's okay honestly, I got what I bargained for. Shouldn't have teased you in the first place, it was very immature of me. '' he finally admitted, feeling more embarrassed than when he'd given a similar answer to Chao. At least his brother was used to his antics, the little slip ups from his usual upright behavior. Ten wasn't.

But Ten didn't seem to mind.

" Nah it's fine, I found it rather fun. My first reaction was to be surprised because I didn't get how'd you ever find my account in the first place. "

And just like that, Kun was trapped. Say nothing and he'd seem like a stalker (which he was not), say the truth and he'd seem like some jealous prick (which he probably could be, but this wasn't one of those instances).

A light bulb went off in his head when he realised there was a third option: sending the ball back.

" Well how did you come across mine? "

Ten seemed a bit surprised, before breaking into a position that screamed 'touché'.

" I was browsing the award's hashtag and realized my roommate had liked your submission because he found the model pretty, so I gave your page a look. '' he answered, his tone way too neutral not to be controlled, blocking Kun from knowing whether he liked his work or not. Ah, why would he care anyway, Ten wasn't a judge.

It was his turn to answer now, or so he deducted from Ten's expectant silence.

" ...Well my boss showed me a video of yours in which you explained the modalities of the contest, since she kind of signed me up without asking me first- Thanks for the captions by the way. It mostly was for me to see what kind of people I was competing against, I think. I'm not that much into the whole social media thing. "

Way to state the obvious.

" Yeah I picked that up " unsurprisingly answered Ten, making Kun's smile grow a bit more nervous.

" Do you want me to brief you on who is who?" he then asked, to Kun's surprise.

" This is a contest, why the help? "

" So we start on the same ground? Jeez, sorry for suggesting " he said with an eye roll.

Kun cracked a smile, untangling his hands from where they were fiddling.

" It's nice of you to propose, but I already have a rough idea of who everyone is. I found information online. " he admitted.

Ten made a silent 'aaah' in acknowledgement, immediately going in for another question.

" What did you find about me? "

The 100% honest and transparent answer would be that Kun didn't look Ten up. He heard enough from both Ms. Wang and the few videos he had watched to nourish some kind of...well, a feeling between disdain and fascination, triggering a reaction of avoidance on his end. God Chao could be annoying being so on-point all the time. It was like he could read right through Kun.

He had ended up messaging the younger again anyway, so much for avoidance.

He settled on a 85% honesty mark. Ten didn't have to know for the disdain/fascination thing, mostly because he felt like the type to be too satisfied knowing he could be threatening, but also because so far he mostly seemed nice and more mature than what Kun had been assuming.

" Well...your name is Ten, you're Thai and you are an influencer, mostly active on youtube and instagram. " he said after a moment, carefully weighing his words. " You like face paint. And glitter. "

" Accurate. And I have to say 'you like face paint and glitter' is the softest analogy I ever heard for 'you're gay as fuck', kudos for that. "

Kun nodded with a very-much-accounted for relieved smile.

" I'm sorry but what does 'Kudos' mean? " he asked, earning himself a stunned look.

" Seriously? "

" What? "

" Dude you're a boomer! "

Luckily enough Kun knew what boomer meant, because asking would have been very humiliating.

" I'm quite sure I'm not more than a year older than you" 

" Boomer isn't about the age, it's about the mentality and lifestyle. "

The huge grin that followed that statement was enough for Kun to drop the argument. He had nothing to prove to him anyway.

They were saved from silence as a woman stepped forward, clapping in her hands as she did so.

Kun froze in his tracks. He knew that Lee Sunmi had been appointed as the head of the jury, but to see her in real life? That was a whole new ordeal.

" We're supposed to know her? " whispered Ten in his right ear, making him jump because wow he had forgotten about his presence, which he had doubted was even possible until now.

That's the effect the woman had.

" This is Lee Sunmi " he answered at the same volume, making sure his consternation was visible in his eyes. " Head of the jury, and legendary high fashion makeup artist. You seriously never heard of her? "

Ten only raised his shoulders for a second while turning his gaze away, exactly the way people who wouldn't admit they didn't know acted. Noted.

" You tell me about the other competitors, I tell you about the juries. Deal? " he said, still making sure they couldn't be heard.

" I like the way you do things. Deal. Even though it means I'll have to deal with you longer, but hey I guess I'll survive it. "

" Ten come on- " he started, but the playful smile on the other's face made him drop the argument- once again. " Okay " he said with a sigh that sounded less annoyed than he hoped it would. " I guess it'd be nice not to be alone through this. Even if the person is you. "

Sunmi took a mic before Ten could answer, cutting the conversation short.

She smiled with her signature perfectly red lips - the style Ms. Wang tried so desperately to copy -, and readjusted her checkered cardigan. Kun almost cried, and she had only breathed.

" Good morning everyone, I hope your travels went well. On behalf of the whole jury, I welcome you to the 2020 NMT awards! " she said, and the room echoed her words with applause.

" Now, I'm the only one present today because the other members of the jury are prohibited from meeting you before the results day. But let me cut through the formalities and get to what you really are interested about: the challenges. And yes, 'challenges' because you may have noticed that the finals are planned on 15 days, and not seven as they usually are. "

Kun frowned at that. He had missed this detail. How the hell had he missed this detail?

" For the first time in the contest's history, the finals will be held in two rounds: one team match and one individual submission. The team matches are eliminatory meaning that only four people will be competing in the actual finale. "

He would have scoffed, if the person speaking hadn't been Lee Sunmi. That was pure marketing, and he knew what he was talking about.

Having two challenges meant that people who already knew about the contest would probably talk about it before the diffusion of the actual finale, thus drawing in more people. Additionally, the victorious participants of the first trial would end up going against their one-week old ally, meaning more drama.  
Wickedly clever.

That wasn't bad for him though. He was used to working with a team.

" Teams have been assigned by birthdate- not birth year, we still want age diversity- which means group one is Qian Kun and "Ten" Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, group 2 is Isis Darmawan and Dao Lan-Chi, group three..."

Kun pretty much tuned out after that. It's not like he knew any of those people.  
He turned towards Ten who was busy making faces at a girl a few meters away from them, probably a friend of his.  
Being partnered with him was going to be... something. At least he could hopefully profit from his popularity?

" When were you born? "

Kun snapped out of his daze, not even having realised Ten had turned back to him.

" On the first of January. 1996. " he answered.

" On New Year’s Eve? Who the hell is born on New Years Eve? "

" I didn't really get to choose. "

" Causing trouble since day 1 I see. Well Kun, since apparently no one else decided to be born between your birthday and mine, let's make this team work. "

He stood up, but before he left he turned back to Kun and ushered "What I said in my message still stands, though" before leaving with a smile.

He could only frown as he was left alone in a corner of the room. His message?

He pulled out his phone, searching Ten's username (which he had memorized by now) and indeed finding three unread messages, that made it clear that the younger had struggled to send anything. This relieved him, in a way. Sassy boy wasn't all that confident.

The last message had to be what he had been referring to.

" I'm still beating your ass at the competition. "

He locked his phone with an eye roll, but less anxious than when he had walked in this morning.  
Keep your friend close and your enemy closer, huh?

Guess it was going to be his job to figure out what was advised when someone was both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No specific words for this chapter!!


	3. Chapter 3

_ 16th of May- 6 days before the first deadline _

Kun had not been planned in Ten's pathway to victory.

Well, he had always been in the equation, he had a role to play but it was more the one of the nemesis than of the ally. Ah, whatever, he liked a challenge.

The good thing was that Kun was nice. Not insufferable or self-entitled like he saw so many people be, little stars crowding the makeup conventions he attended, not cold or snappy either.

The bad thing was that he was particularly stubborn.

Kun's attitude when it came to work was leadership: who did what when and where. Ten could imagine that since he did a job out of makeup; the workers backstage had to be precise, efficient and they couldn't misstep.

Too bad his own thing was individualism, then.

Take the pack leader and the lone wolf, put them in the same room with a common goal and see what happens. That basically what the judges had - unintentionally - done.

Even Yangyang gave him less of a headache. 

He wasn't sure when, but his hotel room had somehow become the base of operations along the way and the arrangement had ended up with Ten on the desk (literally, chairs are for losers and straight people) and Kun on his bed, which now looked more like a...giant pallette than like a bed.

Tons of papers and palettes around him, an open laptop and a tablette were now the new decoration (just how much stuff did Kun pack??), and he had been browsing portfolios for most of the morning, sitting in his little nest.

To be fair it wasn't exactly like himself was any better. While he definitely owned way less props and products, he still beat the other when it came to fantasy material- bodypaint, sequins, protheses and other feathers - and they now were pouring onto the floor, mostly. He was sorry for whoever was going to clean his room- he knew from experience that glitter never really left, and the carpeted floors of the hotel didn't seem like a glitter-proof material.

Amateur of less fancy means he resorted to browsing Pinterest, but the search came as fruitless as Kun's.

"Two faced". 

The theme was so simple it was complicated.

That could mean so many things, that could make them fall into so many clichés, it could make anything so predictable that the reality was that they were trapped by the realms of their own imaginations.

They had ruled the most obvious things right off the bat: half of the face in colors and the other in black and white, winter and summer, two different emotions and angels and demons. Pretty cool, but too bland, not competition worthy.

And that's where things became more complicated.

" What about we take a model and paint half her face as an old woman, and the other half as a young girl? "

Kun shot a glance at Ten as he spoke up, breaking the overall silent room - the two didn't communicate that much if it wasn't for work, and it was fine this way.

" We're not doing half and half, it's not original enough. " he answered while chewing on his pencil.

" It's in the brief. 'Two faced', you don't have a thousand choices. I mean I guess you could take two people that look like each other and give them different faces but that would just be confusing, no? "

" Definitely " answered Kun, and that must have been the first thing they agreed upon in the whole morning. 

The first, because that was like the fifth idea Ten had brought up, and the fifth that had been rejected.

" Why do you want to use models so bad anyway? You had a face last time I checked. " he said, trying to win on at least one side.

" So do the models." answered Kun, unphasable, with a nod to affirm his point. " And it's their job. "

" But you know your face by heart! It's more..it's more personal! "

" Who cares about personal, we should strive for pretty. "

" The emotions Qian, the emotions!!! " he said dramatically as he let himself slide down onto the ground. A bit theatrical maybe, but at least he couldn't see the surrounding mess when he was gazing at the ceiling.

And if he could tear a laugh or a sigh out of Kun, it was only a bonus.

" Hey, what do you think of this? " he said suddenly, tired of being trapped in his own head. That was efficient because it made his teammate look up from his work - a victory in itself.

He made a sound of confusion, which only prompted Ten to go on. " Like the whole teams thing. Yesterday you said it was commercial, which is a good analysis but like...how do you feel about it? "

The confusion lasted a few more seconds before perplexity hit Kun's face, who leaned back on the headboard.

" Snarky or serious answer? " he asked, to which Ten was obligated to answer 'both'.

" Okay " he answered with a small laugh. " Well, it really sucks that you are the person I'm stuck with, Ten. " 

" Tell me that was the snarky one. "

" It was. " he replied with a smile.  " The real answer would be...whatever. Don't take it the wrong way, but you don't sound like the easiest person to work with, you're really something Ten. That having been said, you are creative and this is a social sphere you know, so you're far from the worst pick. And I've worked with such assholes, trust me you can't do worse. "

Wow, men these days. Involuntarily have your whole fandom go flood his account with negative comments and they'll think you're not the easiest person to work with. Unbelievable.

" Fucker " was all he found to answer, to which Kun echoed with a " so eloquent" as Ten climbed back on the desk, ready to scroll endlessly in search of a spark of inspiration.

So yeah, Kun was nice, super great and all but they were still glued to the starting line because nothing was good enough for him.

" Stop doing that . " 

Ten looked up to meet Kun's gaze, who was pointing to the pen he had not even realised he had been fiddling with.

" Oh come on, let me live. "

" Live in silence " was all he answered before turning back to his work, but Ten was oh-so-far from done.

He started to tap louder on the desk, thinking that would make the other angry, surprised when it actually didn't do anything. He had to launch his pen at Kun - on his lap, not his face he wasn't a monster - for him to finally snap out of it.

" I was going to say that, being around a 5 years old very often, I had seen way worse but wow, you're really childish." he said while launching the pen back at Ten.

" Well maybe this way you'll remember that we're two in this team? Cooperate, I don't know! Find an idea if mine aren't good enough! "

Okay, it was petty but makeup was the one thing he was really confident about, and it was the second if not the third time Kun had put him down for it.

" Only if you remember that, as a team, we win or lose together. Your ideas are not bad Ten, they really aren't. I just want to make sure we land in the finals, alright? We're just on day one, we're not in a rush. "

Another problem about Kun was that he was good with words.

" Fine " huffed Ten, jumping down from the desk - which definitely had gone through a lot today. " Let me get a break though, I'm going to fetch us some drinks. You look like the type who rolls on dark coffee, am I wrong? "

" Yes actually, I am a tea drinker " he said with half a smile.

" Right, I forgot you were Chinese " retorqued Ten, refusing to let the other have the upper hand for more than 25 seconds.

" Wow that was...mildly racist" 

" It's fine, just throw one back. What do I look like I drink? "

Kun gave him an overall with a dubitative face, before answering " I'd go with cosmopolitan" which already was a low blow, but then he added " Well actually no, you're so small they probably wouldn't believe that you are legal "

Ten gasped. " I asked for a roast, not a murder! "

" Red tea without any milk or sugar. Thank you! "

A roll of his eyes was all his mind had to offer him in response, and so he settled with that. 

Kun was back at looking at his work, anyway.

\------------------------

Pearl had this tendency of always being in the right place at the right time.

Really, this girl's luck was phenomenal. They had literally met because they were standing in line to get food from the same restaurant in Bangkok, Pearl going up to Ten of all people to ask help with understanding the menu, both of them hardly aware of each other's existence at the time. He wasn't even surprised to hear she was a contestant of the NMT awards, a few months ago. And there she was again, sitting on a stool of the exact café he decided to go too.

That wasn't that much of a coincidence, to be perfectly rational, since it more or less was two streets across from their hotel, but still Ten didn't want to ruin his little 'Pearl is a fairy from another realm' theory. She didn't complain either.

" Hey crazy boy " she said with a smile upon seeing him approach.

He gladly sat on the stool next to hers, eyeing her drink with envy. It seemed like some kind of a milkshake with way too much whipped cream, exactly the kind of thing Yangyang would order. He didn't, because he had a mean tendency of getting sugar highs. Didn't stop him from eating sweet things, just none  _ that _ sweet.

" Hi! Fancy seeing you here " he greeted back.

He gave the waitress his command - a red tea and hot chocolate, Kun figured him out wrong as well for all it mattered - before turning back to her, ready to drown her under his existential dread.

He didn't though, and so he simply asked " How are things going for you? You got paired up with Akiko if I'm not wrong? "

The brunette nodded, taking a long sip from her milkshake.

" Yup. She's a total sweetheart, really but she lacks audacity. Just follows what I said which is cute but you know, competition and everything. I feel like everything our duo does is resting on my shoulders, you see what I mean? Don't want to be blamed on a bad decision. " She took another painfully long swig, and by now Ten was guessing she was just smiling through brain freeze. " And you? You're with the Kun guy right? The one who teased you on instagram. "

" Right. That's the kind of thing that only ever happens to you, isn't it? " he said with a smile, and she couldn't prove him wrong. " Anyway, I actually feel like we're getting kind of nowhere. He rejects all of my ideas and is just so engrossed in his own thing. He's so conventional I swear."

She seemed a bit surprised at his statement. " Really? I could have bet you two would make quite the pair actually. "

It now was Ten's turn to be surprised. He thought that literally no one had thought that. " How so? "

" Well, his techniques are very professional and clean, your techniques are very inventive and creative. Not gonna lie, you guys being teamed up together is a bit scary. "

Ten didn't let himself be bought by her smiles and sweet words. She knew exactly what she was doing, and this was her way of telling him to grow up or to consider the contest lost in advance. He knew that, he didn't need a reminder.

" Well, if we don't manage to find a consensus, at least it'd make things easier for you " he ended up saying, a smile back on his lips as the waitress gave him his order.

Pearl muffled her laugh in a spoon full of whipped cream, shaking her head as she did so.

" What a blessing. Tell your teasing-boy I said ni hao. "

" Tell your sweetheart-girl I said konichiwa. " 

Pearl mouthed something that strongly ressembled a 'fuck you', but he didn't reply to it further than with a wink through the cafe's transparent door, struggling to close it behind him with the two drinks in his hands.

Luckily, the walk back to the hotel went smoothly and without him spilling anything over. He did struggle for about five minutes to open the hotel door but he eventually managed, entering with a 'thanks for the help' whispered between his teeth.

Kun was, in fact, still busy. This man really put himself in a bubble when he worked, or so it seemed. Ten wasn't sure he could blame him on that, more than once had Yangyang barged in his room to tell him they had to go to class, only for him to realize that he had been up all night.

" Room service " he proclaimed, apparently startling the older, which didn't stop him from grabbing the tea with a thankful smile.

Yeah, well. Ten would be smiling too if they ended up finding an idea, so they'd better get back to work.

\--------------------------------

_ 17th of May- 5 days before the first deadline _

Kun liked to explain things with images. And if he had to describe his collaboration with his Thai teammate so far this image would be perfect: him knocking at his room door, having to wait five endless minutes to get a response- some sort of growl it seemed.

It eventually opened, meeting him with the sight of a slightly lost, definitely disheveled and still half asleep Ten, in the same clothes he had on when he left him the day prior.

" Good Morning. '' he said questioningly as Ten rubbed his eyes, lids half closed, seemingly shocked by the light coming from the corridor. A look in his room allowed Kun to see that he hadn't closed the curtains, meaning that he had just woken up.

" Hi Kun " he finally said. " What...time is it exactly? "

" It's 8AM. Everything okay? "

" Yeah " said Ten with a sigh as he let him inside the room. " I did some more research yesterday night and I guess I fell asleep along the way. "

It sure looked like it.

A chronic insomniac, the concept was a bit foreign to Kun but it had to be unsurprising enough for Ten to just go about his morning without asking himself too many questions, or so it seemed as he started pacing around the room to try and tidy his bed and to get some air in.

" Okay so" he started after he was done, " what are you doing here so early? "

" It's not that early, and we have to work. I just assumed you'd be up so I decided to stop by. "

" Haha, silly you. But I mean whatever, let's get to this. "

He shook his head, trying his best to keep himself to scold his teammate the same way he scolded his nephew.

" Ten, chill out. Take a shower, put on some new clothes, I'll go buy breakfast for the both of us in the meantime. Sounds good? "

" Sounds suspicious " said the other with a squint, and Kun would probably have been more intimidated if the crayon he had on yesterday didn't slip under his eyes, making him look like a whole panda. " Did my mother take possession of your body? "

" Last time I checked, no. " he replied with a half-smile. " Why? Does taking care of your basic needs make me a parental figure to you? "

" Yep. If you think anyone checks on my basic needs, you are wrong. "

" Didn't you have a roommate? "

" I do, but he's like...twelve! I'm the one checking on his basic needs. "

He could almost hear his brother talking.

Luckily, Ten dropped the argument as soon as he, well, runned out of arguments, and so he grabbed a fresh set of clothes before strolling to the bathroom which was Kun's cue to leave.

The younger was already ready when he returned with some 'suspicious waffles', or at least as ready as someone can get in fifteen minutes, and so they ate in a relative silence, until Ten declared " Hey, I think we should do the information trade now" between two bites.

" The information trade? " said Kun with a frown, not having a clue of what he was talking about.

" You know. I pitch you about the other contestants, you pitch me about the judges. We discussed it like three days ago. "

Right. It had only been three days...Kun felt as if it had been an eternity, but in reality in less than two weeks he would be back to his messy apartment, Ms. Wang with her red heels and lack of finesse, Chao with his little family, good advices and slight cigarette smell. Just the normal, the regular way things were.

Focusing on the present discussion seemed like a better option than losing himself in his thoughts.

" Yeah. Yeah totally. Hum do I start or do you start? "

He had to wait another waffle-bite for Ten to answer " me first, I have more people to talk about. So uh...do I go group by group? "

" Sure. "

" Amazing. So we're in group one, no introduction needed, we're awesome and we're gonna win this " he said with a mechanical gesture of the hand, as if stating the obvious, and Kun caught himself wishing he had a just 20% of his confidence- " which leads us to group two, Isis Darmawan and Dao Lan-Chi respectively from Indonesia and Vietnam. I don't really know either of them to be honest, like we've crossed paths but only briefly. What I know is that Isis has got a huge fanbase, so she's a threat when it comes to popular votes. Lan-Chi is more sfx orientated which means smaller fanbase but better technique. "

" SFX? " said Kun while frowning, considering getting his phone's note app out because he knew himself, and he knew he was going to forget half of that information.

" And you call yourself a makeup artist? SFX is special effect makeup with like wounds or silicone prosthesis and stuff. It's pretty cool. "*

He jabbed Ten's shoulder, careful not to make any crumbs fall on the bed they were sitting on. Not that he would be the one sleeping in it, but he had a minimum of empathy.

" I just didn't know the english word. Don't act like I'm stupid. " 

He knew better than to give Ten a cue to start an argument, so he continued without missing a beat: " What about group three? "

" Pearl and Akiko Shiota. Pearl's my friend, she's from the Philippines and she pretty much does the same thing as me style-wise. Films videos and helps in the family's barber shop. As for her weaknesses, she tends to imagine things too big, attempt things too grand. "

Kun refrained a smile at that. He was no stranger to this problem.

" I don't know Akiko to be fair, but I think she'll just follow Pearl in whatever she does. "

His explanations went on for some time, and Kun did end up pulling out his notes app, well-aware that he'd forget that he made a note and would have to ask Ten again. Not wanting to do so, he tried to focus to the best ability but he got lost once they reached group six (Advika and a Korean contestant called...Jae something.).

Ten must have taken notice, because he stopped talking after a while and embarrassingly it took Kun some time to take notice. " Tell me if I'm boring " was what he said, seemingly more hurt than he should have been, and Kun sighed internally. All the attention-seekers on Earth be damned, this was their master.

" No I just doze off. Not everyone sleeps from ten to eight " . He wasn't sure of why he felt the need to justify himself, but something about Ten made him want to make sure he wouldn't show the tiniest weakness, because the moment he did he was done for.

" Well me and my healthy sleeping schedule will leave you alone if we're that uncaptivating then " he replied, motioning to stand up from the bed, Kun reaching out to stop him almost as a reflex. Which was a little dumb because what would Ten do, leave his own room?

" Don't be ridiculous. You finished your part of the deal and now you want to leave before I returned the favor? " he said, mentally praising his braincells for coming up with a decent explanation, nice enough to avoid coming off as aggressive while not praising Ten's ego too much.

Luckily it seemed to work, because Ten plopped down on the mattress with a simple roll of his eyes.

" I'm seriously considering it, anyway. I feel like I'm the only one working here, giving ideas and providing info. "

And oh, if it wasn't for a lot of green tea and a few successful years of therapy, Kun would have burned Ten to the ground.

What part of submitting random pinterest-inspired ideas was work? What part of delaying their work day by little less than an hour and a half because he hadn't woken up was helpful?

"...Right. " He answered, harboring calm for each and every cell of his body. " Not that I wouldn't love to get into a debate about work ethics with you, but let's just sum it up by 'I offered you waffles'. That's a universal peace offering, so we're all good right? "

Ten opened his mouth to say something, and Kun could almost already hear the 'suspicious waffles' that threatened to escape his lips, but he made sure to be quicker thus avoiding the back and forth bickering they engaged in and that was seriously starting to wear him off.

" So as for the judges... There is going to be four of them: Lee Sunmi who we've met, Wang Dashan, Lee Taeyong and Hiroto Umi. Anyone rings a bell? "

Ten shook his head no, Kun sighed internally- however it didn't stop him from being glad his sudden conflict avoidance technique had worked and Ten was listening to him-.

It probably was as stupid of Ten as it was stupid of himself to be a stranger to all of their others competitiors, but really how could he not know some icons of his own field?

His teammate stood up, probably to stretch a bit. At least this was getting long for the both of them.

" Sunmi is the woman who presented the first challenge to us isn't she? I think I've seen her in a magazine once. " 

Kun smiled at his teammate's attempt to show interest in his idol. He could only respect that.

" It's likely " he very seriously answered. " She works in high fashion, we're talking runways and photoshoots. She'll mostly evaluate the technique and ingeniosity. "

" Ah, so a perfectionist freak. I see why you like her " replied Ten with a sly smile that he only kept on for a few seconds, just long enough for Kun to understand that the argument had been dropped. He didn't send a remark back, jumping on the occasion of having a decent, productive conversation.

" Lee Taeyong is the CEO and creator of the NMT makeup brand, and he's a creative. " he accordingly continued. "Closer to what you do I think. Dashan is a bodypainter who has worked in exhibitions and mostly does photography, Umi is a movie makeup artist who focuses on SFX and such. So combined together, they're all-rounders. "

Ten dramatically side before falling down on the bed next to where Kun was, careful not to crush him in the process.

" So they need to be four to have expertise in all fields but we have to be alone? What the hell "

" There's two of us. " the older instantly replied, the phrase making him feel weird. 

He thought he had more experience, and to be absolutely objective, he had, but the unpretty truth was that he wasn't a team player. The uglier truth was that he wished he was, just to prove he had something he was objectively better at than Ten. The ugliest truth was that they were both equally terrible at it, and that somehow they both knew that this whole information trade thing was just a mean to procrastinate on actually having to find a consensus on what look they would create.

" We're going to kill this if we don't kill each other first. " was all Ten said, and Kun could only agree.

\--------------------------------

_ 18th of May- 4 days before the first deadline _

On the evening of the third day, Ten got an idea.

He had gotten plenty of ideas, actually, but he was sure about this one. Kun couldn't refutate it.

This really came as a relief because the day had been as uneventful as the precedent. No ideas, nothing groundbreaking, just the regular interruptions that were the chime of Ten's phone and Kun getting more tea.

And yes, three days of arguing and getting nowhere were starting to get draining. 

Never fighting, the business relationship they had seemed to settle in - save for the suspicious waffle moment - and allowed everything to stay cordial, but bickering, arguing about what they should do and keeping each other glued to the starting line.

Ten was more than ready to break the cycle.

He had definitely not forgotten to note down Kun's room number and definitely didn't have to call the lobby for it (maybe that was why they had settled in his room in the first place, now that he thought about it) but all in all he was able to identify his teammate's room in less than 10 minutes and arrived in front of it in 11.

Voices were coming from inside, making Ten hesitate on knocking for a split second. Whatever, in the end Kun had no shame to barge in his room at sunrise (okay maybe not sunrise, they were in may) so he could interrupt a little convo.

Three knocks were all it took for the door to open, Kun appearing in the doorframe looking somewhat distressed.

" Ten " he acknowledged, obviously surprised about him showing up. " What are you doing here? "

" Good evening to you too " he replied with an eye roll as he pushed past him and entered the room, immediately refraining a laugh but unable to stop a teasing smile.

The room was, to put it bluntly, a complete mess. Or like a mess that someone tried to hide really fast.

The blanket had been thrown across the bed and the wrinkles smoothed out by hand, a pillow had fallen down, piles of clothes were hidden here and there in what Ten determined to be the blind spots of the laptop's camera that was resting on a desk, the layout similar to his own room.

This was definitely not what Ten had imagined Kun's room would look like, and he suddenly felt less self-conscious about the few stray brushes and random trinkets that still could be found here and there in his own room.

The laptop brought answers when it came to the exchange he had heard before he knocked on the door and to the hastily tidied state of the room: Kun was video-calling someone.

" Who are you talking to? " he enquired, momentarily forgetting the purpose of his visit.

Kun's expression turned a bit sour as he went back to the desk, Ten already there and waving at the stranger on the screen.

The man waved back with a smile and then said something in a quick-paced Mandarin that Ten barely caught, something along the lines of "is he your teammate?" 

" I am! " answered Ten before Kun could cut him, partly because whoever this was Kun didn't want them to talk and partly for the priceless expression on his face when he realized he could speak chinese - well, Mandarin chinese. Yangyang taught him Cantonese, but it was still a work in progress.-

" Are you Kun's boyfriend? " he continued, to what the other man only laughed.

" What are you even saying, he's my brother, he's married and he has a kid " immediately answered his teammate, trying to swat him away from the screen.

At second glance, him being Kun's brother made sense. They looked somewhat alike, different eyes but similar from the nose down. Their styles were different though, where his brother looked like he threw on a jean and a tshirt, ruffled his hair and called it a day, Kun was polished from his hair to the bottom of his shoes.

" Ahaha, it's not like Kun ever dates anyone. He's incredibly picky in women, I hope you're luckier in love then him " Answered Chao with a teasing smile.

" Thanks for the oversharing '' replied Kun, masking the slight moment of panic on Ten's face, because he was quite sure Kun was somewhat not straight and he was two seconds from involuntarily outing him.

" Hey, are you the father of the kid Kun drew his bird on? " 

If his attempt at changing the subject was a bit rushed it also was efficient, because both of the men's eyes lit up.

" You saw that? " said Kun, looking more surprised than he should have. Obviously Ten saw it, and it was a good look so of course he remembered it. 

" Yes he is! His name is Zhaohui, he's my son. I'm Chao by the way, nice to meet you. "

" Very nice to meet you too, Chao-ge! " 

Kun snorted at that even though Ten couldn't quite see what was so funny.

" He's my little brother, if anything you're his gege not the other way around. " he explained, voice a little sharp, and thankfully he did because Ten wouldn't have guessed. This man with a nice house and a toddler, that was Kun's younger brother?

Kun probably was used to the comment because he cut the exchange short before Ten could speak again, switching back to english. 

" Ten this really...this is a private conversation actually, can you... can we speak about whatever you came here for tomorrow? " he bluntly asked, looking more uneasy by the second.

If Ten was taken aback by his tone and demeanor, he tried not to think too much of it. It was late, he had - fair enough - interrupted a conversation he was not meant to be a part of, but like it was only 6PM and they had a competition going on.

" Oh come on, sorry for interrupting but it's really important and I'm sure your brother wouldn't mind, would you? " he asked in Mandarin as to make sure he would be understood, earning himself a huge smile that he mirrored back at Kun - who was grimacing now. " See? "

" Ten. See you tomorrow ".

And if he knew anything, it was that Kun had just told him, in his very own Kun way, to fuck off. And not in a playful tone. 

Ten had a nervous laugh, more confused than angry. Where did the sudden coldness come from? Was Kun just like that after business hours?

" Okay, nevermind. See you tomorrow. Coworker. "

Not friends, just coworkers, aka people who couldn't see each other after 5PM. Ten had been a fool if he thought any different.

" Ten I didn't-"

" Chill out, it was a joke. Have a good video call I guess, sorry for the disturbance. "

He didn't answer the tiny 'goodnight' that passed through the door on his way out.

\--------------------------------------

_ 19th of May- 3 days before the first deadline _

The next morning was weird.

Weird, because Ten was obviously pissed even though he assured he wasn't and Kun was still awkward about the whole video call situation.

No one acknowledged the elephant in the room though, resulting in both of them sitting in silence, only breaking to exchange a few cordial sentences and gosh why was this getting so awkward?

The fact that the competition was starting to get on their nerves definitely wasn't helping either.

On a purely logistic way you could see it like that: no matter how grand, a makeup look almost never took more than two days to realize (and that was if you could manage to sleep without destroying everything), and it could take up to a day to purchase extra material and sketch your ideas, maybe select the model. So with three days left they were not in a rush per se, but the clock definitely was ticking.

"I need a break " suddenly declared Kun, like he always did when he was in front of an obstacle.

Ten sighed at him, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

" No you don't. We've already had three breaks, I swear if you drink more tea you're gonna die " he replied, gesturing to the empty cups that acted as a silence proof of Kun's misdeeds.

" You can't die from drinking tea. " he answered, but didn't move and just let his head fall on the desk.

" Well if it turns out you can, you'd be the first one to know. "

Kun shrugged it off, silently mourning his vain attempt of either making conversation or getting out of there.

He glanced at Ten - who was glancing at his phone -, desperate for something, anything, a reaction that could tell him why the hell the Thai man seemed so bothered.

" Hey Kun would you mind if I filmed a vlog? "

He jumped in his seat when Ten suddenly turned his way, somewhat fulfilling his wishes of acknowledgement while still giving him nothing. Even though that was still better than the silent treatment he couldn't stop himself from letting his frustration turn sour.

" A vlog? The first thing that comes to your mind right now is a vlog? " he said, at least finally addressing...something, his voice carrying more tired disbelief than actual anger.

" Why, you have a better idea? " was all the other replied, already getting his travel camera out. " People are curious, plus the whole comment situation didn't just disappear overnight. It's a good thing if it makes trolls disappear from your page, no? "

Oh yeah, that. Kun had completely forgotten about that when it only had been what, four days?

Time was playing tricks on him, and Ten was its ally.

" You know I don't really mind the comments. It's social media" he answered with a shrug. "I'm a grown adult and I know what I'm risking. But we need to just...find something here or we'll just have nothing to showcase. I'm... I'm sorry Ten because I know it's your thing, but you're just not being serious right now. "

Ten's smile turned sharp as he stared down at his teammate, beaming over him like over a disrespectful child.

" In case it didn't reach your brain, this is not my 'thing'. This is my job, and your disdain won't make it less of a job. I don't think you heard me complaining when you had a three hours call with your boss."

He didn't expect Kun to answer, already turning back to set the camera up on it's tripod, but he couldn't miss the soft ' Right, I'm sorry' quickly mumbled under a breath, and if it didn't completely calm him it helped him gain back some composure.

Kun fiddled with his pen, trying not to focus too much on his teammate's voice as he cheerfully started his show.

" Sawadee Krub, this is Ten! " The familiar introduction echoed through the room, and he could see his teammate's shoulders instantly relax. He knew the smile Ten reserved for the camera was as soothing for him as it was for his viewers.

" So. As you are all well aware of, I am currently taking part in the NMT makeup awards of this year. Excuse the radio silence, I've been quite busy " he said, trying not to point at Kun too obviously (which was a bit stupid as he wasn't even in the frame. )

" You're not aware of it yet" he continued, " but the first phase of the finals actually is a team project and I've been partnered up with Qian Kun, that you may know better as Qian 'winning will be easy' Kun. Do you want to introduce yourself Phi*? " he asked, turning the camera so the older would appear.

He blinked at him for a few seconds, before stating " Ten, I don't understand Thai. " which, in hindsight, he could have planned. Ten could also have reacted like the normal, empathetic human that he was most of the time, but his frustrated brain decided that making fun of Kun was the best strategy to cover his own silly mistake.

" Yeah, I forgot everyone can't speak five languages, sorry Mr.Professional." was what he replied, the words slipping from his lips before he could really think about them.

Kun didn't seem to take offense anyway because he just ignored him and turned back to his work, an action he was apparently fond of.

Ten turned back to his camera.

" Sorry for that, communication is complicated " he said, careful to switch back to Thai. " Not sure it's a language barrier problem, but anyway. So the first theme for those...semi-finals I guess is "two-faced" which is very broad " he said with a little laugh, as if the fear of never settling on anything hadn't been wearing him down for the past few days, " but we'll manage, I'm sure of it. "

He shifted a bit, readjusting his hair and shooing a stray eyelash away.

" I don't really know why the pressure got so important, honestly. I'm sure we can do well enough to land in the finals but I just want to blow away..."

He was going to say the judges, but then his mind wandered to Kun and his apparently perfect technique, their childish rivalry and how good it would feel to see an expression of defeat on his face, how even better it would feel to be at the receiving end of his pride.

Yeah, guess he'd have to cut his philosophic pause when he'll edit the footage.

" I want to blow everyone away " was what he finally settled on.

He was about to go on when he was interrupted by a ringing from Kun's phone who just took it without a care in the world, and oh Ten's blood started to boil.

" Do you mind that I'm working? " he said -in english this time, he had learned his lesson-, trying to sound less annoyed than he was. So much for wanting to ease the tension between them.

Kun mumbled something in mandarin before covering the phone and turning back to him.

" Do you mind that I'm working too? This is the director of the late night show I'm working for, I can't just decline his call. Do you want me to go take it outside though? "

How did the conversation always switch from animosity to care? Just what was up today?

" Yes please " he answered, deciding to go with the flow. " Feel free to grab some tea while you're at it, I can basically see you shaking. "

He didn't have to say that twice, because Kun grabbed his phone and wallet before bolting out of the room and Ten took a deep breath in for the first time in three hours. He let his head fall back on the bed he was sitting against, conscious of the camera still watching him from its mechanical eye. At least the camera was easy to impress.

" What am I doing " he mumbled to himself, almost expecting someone to answer. Of course no one did because this hotel wasn't the Overlook* and he was, in fact, alone. Once again.

His filming went rather smoothly, after that. His nerves started to calm down, the loneliness wrapped around him like a familiar blanket, his eyes started to ignore Kun's stuff that was still around the room (and threatening to tear his safe blanket away). The jokes came more easily, the chat felt more natural, and this was...this was his normal again.

Except it wasn't, and he couldn't stop himself from jumping when Kun opened the door again half an hour later.

" God you scared me "

" Were you expecting me to not come back? " replied the other as he took off his coat and settled back at the desk.

" Not expecting, maybe hoping. " 

Kun brushed him off with a hum, sitting back at his desk almost mechanically.

" Hey I think we should discuss-"

" Can this wait until I'm finished with the video? It's kind of hard to just stop in the middle. "

Kun stared at him with wide eyes, biting his lip as if this was a conversation he didn't want to have but he knew was coming.

" Ten seriously? We just...we don't have the time, do you understand that? "

And he did, he understood perfectly but he just needed to get his mind off of...whatever this was, whatever wall his teammate seemed to have put between them.

He hated when Kun was right.

" Okay, Kun, can you not be a pain in the ass for five minutes??? " he said with a light tone, not feeling too deeply about it, just trying to get out of this with sarcasm as he always did. " I swear all the good genes have been passed down to your brother or something. "

And it should have been...well maybe not funny, but playful or something. Kun should have rolled his eyes, sighed maybe tell him to fuck off but he just...did nothing. Nothing was how Ten knew he had fucked up.

The sad smile the other cast, his tired eyes told him that that had been a joke too far.

"Hey Kun are-"

" Drop it " he said, and Ten almost wished he had screamed at him or sent him off. " You know what, let's... call it for tonight I'll just go back to my room, give you space. Goodnight Ten. "

He jumped to his feet, trying to be quicker than his teammate but he had rushed to the door, taking only his phone, and shut it behind him with a thud.

Day four of the competition and Ten was alone, again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some lil' words for you!
> 
> SFX: Here is what SFX looks like: https://pin.it/1qS2GV6 
> 
> "Phi": Not makeup related but in Thai, P' is similar to hyung or ge. Kun hyung becomes P'Kun, "he is my hyung" becomes "he is my phi/ we're phi and nong".   
> (If you know this you are either Thai, cultured, or you fell into the BL rabbit hole)
> 
> Overlook: in case you didn't understand the reference, the Overlook is the name of the haunted hotel in The Shining.  
> \---------------
> 
> WRITING CONFLICT IN A ROMANCE IS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS KKRKRK because you have to find the line between banter and full on fight that would make dating each other very complicated???? I couldn't realistically make this competition longer than 9 days, so it's a challenge, making them meet, fight, make up and fall in love in such a short time span ˆˆ' I hope the results are convincing enough!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: There will be a description of a makeup look that involved turning someone into a zombie, if the description of what their faces looks like makes you uncomfortable please skip the paragraph going from 'The next team...' to '...gorgeous work.'

Ten turned in his bed, once, twice, enough to get frustrated and punch his pillow. None of this was the pillow's fault, but it was easier to blame it than to face his fuck-ups.

He grabbed his camera that was now laying on the floor besides his bed, rewatching the footage for about the 40th time - trying to pinpoint exactly when things had gone wrong, once again coming to the conclusion that things were already wrong when they walked into his room this morning.

He felt petty. And stupid. Both for reacting that strongly, and for bothering that much.

He sat up on his mattress, giving up on sleep and making the silent resolution to apologize first thing in the morning. Scratch that, he was going to apologize now if it was the last thing he did.

It's not like there were a thousand places to go, was it? There was Kun's room, the hotel's lobby, and the nearing café. Knowing Kun's love for tea and distaste for crowded places, he placed his bets onto the third option.

He was right, and he hated that he was right.

He hated that he felt relieved.

Kun was there, his back turned to Ten, mindlessly munching on a strawberry pie while an empty teacup rested in front of him. He looked better than Ten did though, the restlessness not as apparent but Ten remembered him saying he was an insomniac so it made sense.

He approached carefully, not wanting to freak him out as he settled down in front of him - a clearly deliberate move, the café was otherwise almost completely empty, save for a few students hunched on their laptops and the staff. Kun flinched but didn't send him away, a win in itself.

" Hey " he said, his mind running out of ideas the moment his eyes had settled on Kun. " I uh, I don't really know where to start " he admitted, unable to suppress a nervous chuckle.

Kun didn't answer, he just stared at him probably to try and figure out if he was serious.

" Yeah hum. I guess I'm sorry would be a good start. " he finally uttered out.

Kun squirmed around in his chair, bringing to Ten the small comfort that he wasn't the only awkward one.

" I'm not...sure of what I'm sorry about, actually " he continued to fill the silence. " Not that I think I was spotless because we're far from that, but I thought...I didn't think we were working that badly? I mean together as people, not as for our actual work because we did nothing objectively we suck, but yeah. Maybe I completely misread everything but, the banter, you didn't seem to mind it. "

" I didn't. "

Ten's head shot up to face Kun, teacup and pie long forgotten but with the same blank expression on.

" I'm sorry I snapped Ten, it's nothing go back to sleep and let's continue tomorrow. "

Except no they were not done, because there was no going for another round of this cordial awkwardness that led them to nowhere, there was no going for another round of unwillingly hurting each other, there was no going for another round of remaining strangers.

" It's not nothing. I hurt you, obviously, but I don't know why. I mean I've said some stuff but it was for teasing, why did this one hurt you more? And how can I, you know, not do it again? "

He wasn't good at apologizing, but he wanted to save whatever they had built in those past four days- it only had been four days??? Felt like months- even if it was a bit faulty.

Maybe Kun did too, because he did not push him away.

" It's just an insecurity of mine, don't bother ".

" Too bad boo, I'm bothering. So what's up? "

" Why are you doing this? "

" Because obviously we suck at being coworkers. Why don't we try being friends? "

He tried to not make it obvious that he was as surprised by the words that escaped his mouth as his teammate was by hiding behind a menu, inevitably causing a waiter to come up to their table and take his order. He settled for whatever it was that Pearl had been drinking the last time he saw her, because he was surely going to need the sugar.

(Kun did try to offer him some pie, but it was deemed as 'suspicious' as well. Kun then asked if the waiter was suspicious for giving him food, Ten said that no, because the waiter was paid.)

" So. My new best friend Kun. " he prompted, taking a sip of his newly-arrived beverage, silently thanking the heavens for this sugary monstrosity. " Let's not start by your insecurities. What's your life like? "

This made Kun smile and Ten patted himself in the back, victoriously sipping on his straw.

" My life? That's a wide question. " he replied.

" Good thing we've got all night, some tea and whatever I am drinking right now then! " said Ten while poking at his cup. " Why don't you start by telling me what you like, for example? "

He seemed to hesitate, head slightly bowed to the side and Ten could almost hear the gears in his head turning and rattling.

" I...I like makeup? " he finally said, looking a bit awkward as he did so.

Ten gave him a disbelieving look, mentally holding himself back from turning into sarcasm mode. This was obviously hard for Kun, it was only fair for him to make efforts as well.

" Alright, anything that isn't related to work? " he prompted, and Kun turned kinda blank.

" I mean I mostly work during my free time. And I see my family. And I drink tea. "

" That's already something " replied Ten, happy with the crumbs he had. No matter if he had to take Kun apart layer by layer, he would stay the whole night if he had to. " Don't you have some hobbies? Something you did when you were a teenager and really bored or in a very long tuesday afternoon, I don't know. "

The other seemed confused again, but suddenly a glint of remembrance illuminated his face and Ten was here to catch it.

" You're going to laugh at me " he said after a moment, already laughing at himself.

" Of course I am! Lay it out. I've heard a lot, trust me. "

( He lived with a whole Yangyang. Nothing would be too surprising. )

" Okay so I kind of used to learn magic tricks. " Definitely not anything that Ten had thought of, and the image of Kun in some cartoonish magician outfit pulling a bunny out of a hat was too good to ignore.

" Qian Kun, you can't just say that and not offer me a demonstration " he said with a teasing smile that Kun somehow reciprocated.

The trick - sadly - didn't include any bunny. Ten wasn't sure about what it included at all at first, growing more and more puzzled as Kun hesitantly leaned towards him, reaching next to his face with his right hand as if he was going to brush his hair off or something. His hand stopped to his ear though, and he flicked his wrist dramatically before drawing it back with a proud smile and a shiny silver coin between his fingers.

" It was in your ear. " he assessed as Ten showed no reaction, effectively prompting him into a fit of laughter.

This was probably one of the lamest talent shows he'd ever seen, yet it also was the coolest and by far.

" Look at that. " Kun threw the coin in the air, caught it back and then opened his hands to show they were empty.

Ten was at a lack for words, but he was not at a lack of facepalms. If he laughed behind his hand, Kun didn't have to know it.

" That's the most awesome thing you ever did" he said after a while, triggering a dramatic eye roll.

" Okay, you know about my dumb shit now. What's yours? "

" I paint my face pink for money. My life is a dumb shit. " he said with a straight face, totally meaning it. He wouldn't have it any other way.

The conversation went on for another hour, both men learning all there was to learn about each other from their friends- no one they considered close on either side aside from roommates and family members-, how they got into makeup, how school had been, what their favorite meals were to the countries they had travelled to or wished to go to.

They definitely were better friends than coworkers.

The topic of insecurities came naturally after that because they were stressed and it was 2 AM, and Ten's ears were wide open, his tiredness long forgotten.

His drink was finished and Kun's tea had long run cold but no one bothered to kick them out - Ten was suspecting their conversation to be the cafe staff's only distraction at these ungodly hours of the morning.

" So you met my brother, right? "

Ten nodded, recalling his brief exchange with the man. That wasn't the direction he expected the conversation to go since he and Kun seemed fairly close, but in hindsight it made sense since Kun had kicked him out of his room during a video call with said brother. He had thought his bad mood then had been about him, but maybe it had been about Chao.

Kun sighed, eyes ever so slightly dozing out.

" What did you think of him? " he asked, causing Ten to frown a bit.

" Is that a trick question? "

" It's not " he replied with a kind smile.

It was a good question then. Qian Chao seemed lively, mature, friendly. He said this to Kun, who nodded as if he was expecting that answer.

" And what did you first think of me? " he then proceeded to ask, making Ten feel a bit awkward.

At first? Jealousy, probably, for the talent the older had and the respect he had gained. Kun had seemed like a boring person, sticking to the rules and thinking he was better than anyone else. But again, Ten knew he could also come out as pretentious and he knew he particularly disliked that assumption.

That seemed to be more of an unexpected answer, or so he deducted from the way Kun's eyes widened a bit.

" Well- thank you. " he said

" I somewhat insult you and you thank me? Wow, sign me up for more of this. "

" No I mean- usually people say I seem boring and weird, that me and my brother are nothing alike. You know Chao, he's got a family, a wife and a son, he's got his house and a nice car and that's all my parents ever asked from us. And me? I do makeup, I am gay, I'll never have a wife let alone biological children. It got to the point I caught myself being happy that my brother chronically fails at having a stable job, because that's the last thing giving me value in my parent's eyes. " he said in a single breath, and Ten was sure his heart flinched a little.

" You kinda make it sound like it's the last thing giving you value in your own eyes. "

Kun winced, driving his gaze away. " You're not wrong. I think I am, somehow, still grieving for the life I might have had if I had been more...conventional. "

" It would have been boring as fuck though " said Ten, regretting his bluntness the second after but forgetting his worries when Kun reacted with a laugh

" Probably. But it's not just petty jealousy, it's also that my brother is just so omnipresent in every aspect of my life I just...didn't want him to be a part of this. Because I actually do enjoy this, which is why I'm sorry I lashed out on you. "

Ten wasn't a hundred percent sure on what 'this' represented (The makeup contest? Him? Their current conversation? His unfinished strawberry pie?) but he decided not to press it, deeming this conversation already hard enough to have.

It was also weirdly helpful. At first sight, he spontaneously casted Kun into the type of person his own parents wanted him to be, with a stable position and a serious aura; so to see that Kun's insecurities were based on other people's expectations for him turned the tide in some way. 

They had similarities.

A lot of them, if you thought of it.

" Wait so was that the reason you've been trying so hard and rejecting all my ideas?" he suddenly said, in a flash of realization. " Because you wanted to prove your worth? "

Kun frowned, landing his face between his hands. " God this is embarrassing. "

Ten frankly laughed at that, amused by their mutual pettiness. " I mean why did you think I suggested so much stuff? That's just my way to prove I'm capable of working stuff out even though I'm not professional, neither am I a girl. "

" Fair enough " replied Kun, echoing his laugh with a smile. " By the way, what was the idea you had when you came looking for me? You seemed quite excited about it. "

Right! His amazing idea, can't believe he actually forgot about that.

He couldn't see himself but he was sure the glint in his eyes had to be somewhat mischievous as he propped his elbows on the table, making this whole ordeal look way more serious than it actually was.

" Would you trust me with a crazy idea? "

Kun scoffed. " I wouldn't exactly trust you with a sane one. "

And oh, how right he was.

\---------------------

_ 21st of May- The day before the deadline _

" If you don't stop moving I'm going to poke your eye out" 

Ten shrugged from where he was seated yet he still complied, reluctantly letting his phone fall onto the carpeted floor.

" I don't know, maybe I could go for a pirate look. I would make a very sexy pirate " he said with a smile, immediatly ducking to avoid the makeup sponge Kun had thrown at him.

" Please be a sexy pirate after I'm finished with your makeup. Do you know how hard it is to do a grayscale properly? "

His teammate didn't feel the need to answer for the very good reason that no one needed a reminder of how complicated it was. It consisted of painting the face white and then 'redrawing' the features with blacks and grays, mimicking the shadows of the bone structure and the shine of the skin. All that without any space for mistakes, everything would be visible on a white canvas.*

He had already successfully done one on his own face in the morning, giving everything enough time to dry off. Now he had to work on Ten, and though he was more used to having models, the lack of familiarity with his teammate's features rendered the already complicated makeup even trickier. But the 'let's do makeup on each other and on ourselves" deal was the closest to an agreement they had gotten in a week and so he was not complaining.

The setup was a bit complicated. They had makeup rooms available for them at the contest's venue but they preferred to stay at the hotel, mostly to catch up on the sleep they didn't get while they were making up, partly because Ten said something about 'if Pearl sees me she'll make fun of me' which...okay, so they had placed a big mirror onto Ten's room desk and called it practical.

Kun was not mad about finding the comfortable habits of his work back after those few days of stress. He liked the faint smell of his translucent setting powder, he liked the sound of his angled brush as he dipped into a pale gray shade and started sculpting Ten's jaw, he liked how used his wrist was to the tiny flick he had to do to draw the perfect eye-liner.

What he liked less was Ten's eyes following his every move, his unfamiliar lips curling into a teasing smile each time he ever made half a mistake and the overall way he apparently wasn't able to just ignore Kun. It shouldn't have phased him that much, he had dealt with chatty and overbearing clients, but Ten wasn't present in a bad way he just...present.

24 years of speaking be damned, he was at a loss for words.

" You're moving your head again " he said once he got his voice back, turning Ten's jaw back towards him.

" Sorry ". His smile was apologetic enough for Kun to believe him, and so he proceeded without much more than a disapproving nod. " Yangyang was texting me again. "

" Right, Yangyang. Your roommate right? "

Conversation was worth it if it kept Ten somewhat focused, and truth to be told he found it to be rather interesting. If he had felt like his teammate's entire life was displayed on social media he had been wrong, a lot was still to be learned about.

" Yes! He went to the zoo with his girlfriend and now he's comparing all the animals to the people we know and making memes out of them. "

Kun muffled a laugh at that. " Did he give you an animal? "

Ten groaned, stopping in his motion when Kun urged him to stay still again.

" He gave me a penguin, I quote 'because you're short and gay'. Can you believe the audacity? "

There was nothing muffled about his laugh then, only resulting in him earning himself a tap on the arm.

" This kid is glorious " he said once he calmed down and checked Ten's face for any mistake- luckily there were none. He dipped back into the light gray, tracing a trait on the limit of Ten's jaw.

" Has anyone ever told you that you completely change when you're working? "

Kun popped out of his concentration bubble and blinked a few times.

" People don't usually stare at me while I do their makeup " he said, immediately causing Ten to avert his gaze " but yes, I've heard it a couple times. My boss is very talkative so I've heard all sorts of things, let's be real. "

He spared Ten from answering as he stepped back to take an overall look at his work, finally letting his brush - and his tired arms - rest.

" I think we're good " he said, affirmation that Ten echoed with a nod.

" That's not too bad ". If his smile was anything to go by, it was better than 'not too bad'. Not that Kun needed his approval to know he had done a good job, but he was a simple man, he liked praise.

His worked being finished meant it was now Ten's turn to do his thing. The sun lowering meant he'd have to do it quickly.

Blame it on their poor coordination during the first few days, but the time was short. After they fought and made up they both had slept for about 8 hours straight - Kun was sure that was the first time in 6 years he did so - meaning that they had started their officials face charts* in the afternoon of the 20th. Kun started the makeup on the morning of the 21st while Ten was out to buy the supplies he needed, and now it was around five PM. They both had to be at the venue on the 22nd, 8AM, so this was going to be a challenge.

They switched places and Ten came back to their makeshift makeup station with a lot of colorful brushes, water and some seemingly white face paint.

" I have no idea of what I'm doing, so please be indulgent " he said, and with that silence fell upon them.

The sensation was odd, being the one having makeup done on. Kun rarely ever worked on himself and he was pretty sure he never modeled for anyone, so the feelings were foreign but not necessarily unpleasant.

He sent a look to the little camera that was resting on a corner of the desk, after he allowed Ten to include the footage in his vlog video. This too was new.

But he was ready to learn.

He was also ready to teach, because Ten's inexpertise started showing after half an hour, unsure of how close to Kun's eye he was allowed to go, and then again when he mistakenly hit his nose while painting on his jaw - but they had laughed it off.

The day rolled by, then the night, and before they knew it they were taking off to the contest's venue, running on coffee, anxiety and pure will.

\--------------------------------------------------------

_ 22nd of May- Finals: Judgement 1 _

" Hello everyone, thanks for tuning in and welcome to the first edition of the 2020 NMT makeup awards! I am Kim Minji and I will be your presentator tonight. Without waiting any longer, please let me introduce all of this season's contestants, and to this years' very special challenges! "

Kun and Ten sat in a private room, anxiously watching the screen.

They had - somehow - managed to be done in time, and now all that was left for them to do was to wait in silence and pray their hearts wouldn't burst out of their rib cages out of anxiety.

The presentator picked a new cue card and smiled wide at the camera.

" Now, please allow me to introduce you to our very special jury. Firstly, please cheer for japanese makeup grandmaster and movie legend, Hiroto Umi!"

A middle-aged woman stepped in, black hair pulled into the messiest bun and astonishing neon yellow glasses framing her eyes, circled from a savantly done eyeliner wing.

The second judge arrived after the presentator announced 'Lee Taeyong', and so Ten identified him as being the current owner of the NMT brand. He was younger than what he expected, in hindsight he was even the youngest member of the jury. Truly impressive, for someone so young to have such a renowned brand.

Wang Dashan was the third judge to be announced, and his look was, to say the least, astonishing. 

He probably didn't have a drop of makeup on his face, but his head was something else. He was completely bald and his scalp had been painted into intricate patterns that Ten ended up identifying as some sort of a galaxy, and the effect was mind blowing.

The last to join was Lee Sunmi who didn't even need an introduction. Dark brown hair and signature dark lipstick, Ten felt as if she hadn't changed at all from the last time he saw her. Maybe she was a wax figure? Or an AI. Those were the only possible explanations.

And then came the time of the look reveals. Luckily the groups were picked in random order, because neither Ten nor Kun particularly wished to go first.

The first to be drawn were Eunji and View, and Kun smirked in victory at Ten the moment they were revealed.

They had gone for the 'one side in black and white, one side in color' brief, one of the ideas he had refused Ten from the very beginning. He didn't say anything in retaliation, too focused into analysing what they had done.

The colorful side was absolutely stunning, he had to give them that, but the black and white... Well there was a reason grayscale was reputed to be hard, and theirs wasn't bad but it was inconsistent.

That was one concurrent out of the way but it was no time for rejoy because four were still up.

Group three's performance was more worrying. Not that Ten expected anything short of amazing from Pearl and her teammate, but he still had hoped.

The theme in itself was simple, Sun and Moon, the kind that would normally get ruled out in 10 seconds.

Except this only fell short of magnificent. The stage's spotlight sure helped, but they both were shining so brightly they probably blinded the audience, all in gold and iridescent white. He didn't need to turn towards Kun to know he had drawn the same verdict he did: they were strong competition.

The next group did nothing to soothe his racing heart.

Contestants Isis and Lan-Chi were the only ones who chose to do makeup on models instead of themselves, and considering the amount of technical work that went in it made sense.

It was audacious because one side of the face was a very normal, very simple glam look that presented no challenge at all; but the other had been kind of...zombified, for lack of a better word. It was quite frightening really, how the perfectly smooth skin turned grey and weirdly shaped, how it seemed to crack under unparalleled dryness. It was a really gorgeous work.

The next names to be drawn weren't theirs, and that meant they were the group that would have to go last. They didn't get to see what the remaining contestants did because a member of the staff called them out from their lounge, urging them to go backstage instead and prepare for their entry.

No words were exchanged but Kun did offer him a reassuring smile, before taking his hand and wordlessly leading him out of the lounge they were safely hidden in.

A million thoughts were racing in his head so quickly he could barely catch any, and so he focused on his breathing and on Kun's warm presence next to him.

" How are you so calm? " he whispered under his breath, trying to calm his own heart.

" Having someone to comfort makes it easier to deal with my own anxiety, " answered Kun with a knowing smile, earning himself a well-deserved scoff.

" Fuck off " was all he had the time to reply before a loud voice cut him, announcing " Last but not least...Group 1, Ten Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul and Qian Kun! "

The presentator gave them their cue and that was it, they had to go onto the stage.

The lights were blinding, that was the loudest thought Ten had, drowning out all the I'm going to trip and fall on my face, I'm sure my eyeliner runned down, fuck did I forget to smile?, everyone else did so much better than me and a bunch of other worries he should have grown accostumed to by now, from how frequent they were.

At least the blinding lights kept him from seeing the jury or the audience, which couldn't be too bad because they surely looked perplexed by now.

The reason for that was simple: the brief had not been fulfilled at all.

Both of them had appeared on the stage painted into a perfect and beautiful grayscale, more artistic than it was natural and strikingly pretty. But all the beauty in the world couldn't mask the fact that there wasn't anything 'two faced' about it.

But that was because only Kun's work was currently visible, and while they were all looking at him none of them had seen Ten coming.

Without a word, a raised a - definitely not shaky - hand in the air, clacking his finger once and making all the lights turn off, the stage now clad in a soft blue light. Black light, to be precise.

That's when the 'second face' came in.

The grayscale was completely hidden by now, only remained intricate patterns adorning their skins, made out of fluorescent UV paint. That was what Ten had planned.

It had been quite a ride, drawing on Kun's face and then his own with paint he couldn't see, but as he looked at his teammate glowing in neon yellow he could only think it had been so worth it.

The lights came back on and the magic died out, but they exited the stage under a thunder of applause and with a smile on their faces.

Ten's heart hadn't stopped racing, and his hand on Kun's back informed him that his wasn't the only one, but now he loved the rhythmic melodies keeping them alive.

****

Yang_Squared: TEN

Yang_Squared: JJSHJHSHDSHJSD

Yang_Squared: TEN OH MY FUCKING GOD

Yang_Squared: I ALWAYS KNEW YOU WOULD MAKE IT

TenOuttaTen: No you didn't

TenOuttaTen: Your snake ass rooted for Kun

Yang_Squared: And your point is?

Yang_Squared: You were in Kun's team and you won

Yang_Squared: So I was right!

Yang_Squared: Also, I made like five email accounts so I could send you guys more votes. I also told all of our friends to do it, Minnie told all of her friends to do it, so I'm basically a share-holder* of your victory now

TenOuttaTen: No you're still a snake

Yang_Squared: And you're a penguin

Yang_Squared: Gay and short, remember?

" This is why there's no use in raising kids. " He ceremoniously launched his phone on their restaurant table, eliciting laughs from the people around it- definitely helped by the alcohol they had in their systems.

Him, Kun, Pearl and her teammate Akiko all ended up making it to the second part of the finals, only by a very very short margin but still, it was an occasion to celebrate.

They probably looked completely crazy, still in full makeup and talking in a broken english with four different accents, not two of them the same nationality nor the same age but none of them particularly cared. It was part of the beauty of the experience.

Akiko, it turns out, was a really nice and particularly sweet girl, soft spoken but with a laugh that reminded everyone she was present. As of Pearl- well, she was Pearl and in her true Pearl fashion she already had befriended two of the restaurant's workers and managed to make them all gain free drinks somehow. He wouldn't be surprised if she ended up meeting Paris Hilton in the bathroom or something.

But to be completely honest, he wasn't too focused on the girls when a whole Kun was existing next to him.

See, a week may seem like a short time span but when you spend it completely with one person you learn a lot. And Ten had seen anxious Kun, angry Kun, amused Kun, professional Kun but happy Kun? The one who just won something and drank one glass of soju too much, the one who didn't care about his hair not being perfectly in place and falling into his eyes, the one who pulled random coins out of Ten's ears, wow, Ten loved that one.

" Hey Ten? "

" Hmm? "

" Chao called me right after we got selected, " he said, tuning out Pearl and Akiko who were still chatting animatedly.

Ten nodded, trying to sober up a bit and gather his serious before carrying on with listening.

" Did it go well? " he enquired, and Kun nodded with a smile.

" Very. He congratulated me and all, and he was about to go on and on and I just told him that I would call him later and that my friends were waiting for me. And I hung up. In a polite way of course!!! "

Ten smiled back, engulfing a miniature macaron to celebrate that.

" Well damn, look at you having boundaries. Next thing you know you're telling your boss she can't call you during paid holidays or your clients that they can't touch your face without you allowing them! "

" Yeah that's for another time. One boundary down, about a thousand more to go "

Ten picked up his glass and so did Kun, clicking them together.

" To setting one boundary then"

" To setting one boundary. "

They drank in a relative silence - relative, Pearl was still going off - before Ten set his glass down.

" Hey, thank you for calling me your friend by the way. "

He...was not sure of where that came from, but guess it was that time of the night when he became emotional and discussed dreams of the future and childhood trauma. Eh, too bad Kun was willing to listen then.

He seemed a bit surprised from that statement, but again maybe that simply was Kun's reaction to anything and everything.

" I don't have many friends " he continued when Kun didn't answer. " Basically just Yangyang when you come to think of it. "

" What about Pearl? "

He looked in her general direction, where she had proceeded to start explaining to Akiko how to do acrylic nails.

" She's my friend, but she's not..."there". Like I can't call her when I'm sad so we can eat ice cream. I can't go to her house and talk about how I hate men around a bottle of wine when I get dumped. I can't jump in her arms when I get accepted into a makeup competition, see? No shade to Yangyang I love the kid, but I'm afraid I'll be a bother. He's not here for me, you get what I mean? He's his own person and all. And he's got a girlfriend now! That's great but what if he moves out with her and I end up alone with my cat? Will I become an old cat lady???"

He stopped himself when he realized he was rambling, Kun simply staring at him in silence with a gentle smile.

" Sorry for that. I should seek therapy. " he said in apology, tearing a laugh out of the other.

" You and me both I'm afraid, but that wasn't my point. I mean I'm just...really alone too. If you want to be alone together after the awards end, always feel free to skype me okay? If you want. "

He did.

Day seven of the competition, and Ten learned Kun was a good friend.

Being friends surely was nice.

( But Ten kind of wanted to kiss him square on the lips now, and his cocktail wasn’t exactly strong enough to blame it on the alcohol. So...oops?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grayscale: https://pin.it/4ielehz (this is not a black and white picture!!! this is the amazing work of the drag queen Detox. I have now idea how she did it that well tbh.)
> 
> Face chart: A blank drawing of a face on which you draw the makeup look you want to realize. It's not necessary to do one, but for a look as complex as what they want to do it's strongly needed. Example: https://pin.it/4laohq5
> 
> Share-Holder: Companies sell what you call 'shares', basically you buy a part of the company so they have money and in exchange you can have a say in their decisions, you can also sell the shares to other people and make even more money (over simplified but it's the idea). What Yangyang is saying is that he's co-owning their victory.
> 
> For the fun of it let me show you those:  
> Example of makeup done on a bald head- https://pin.it/4laohq5 https://pin.it/Lm2q57P  
> Example of UV reactive makeup- https://pin.it/Lm2q57P https://pin.it/Lm2q57P
> 
> \--------------  
> Fun fact: I'm a (mandarin) chinese student, and "Wang Dashan" is the name of every freaking character in our lessons because the characters for "Wand", "Da" and "Shan" are super simple to write and we learned them in the first lesson. So there was no way I didn't make an hommage to Wang Dashan, emblematic figure of my school year.
> 
> Less fun fact: I can't promise the next (and final!!) chapter will come out exactly on next monday, because I have had two very complicated weeks and I haven't written during those. Luckily everything is back in order and I am healthy again (I was sick for part of it?? Yeah, really weird couple of weeks jkdjek) but only a quarter of the next chapter is done. I will do my best but I can't promise a publishing date ;-; So far, what I am aiming for is to publish on next tuesday, 00:00 AM (France time)
> 
> Have a lovely week everyone, and I'll be back as soon as I can :D


	5. Chapter 5

It was the first time Ten set foot in Taiwan.

Determined to use his mandarin, he had gone to places were it was more wildly spoken as a first language and Taïwan had the additional disavantage of using unsimplified characters which made Ten want to bang his head against a wall. Upon arriving he realized that he had quite missed out. The island was beautiful and the atmosphere overally pleasant. It felt like a good place to call home.

Standing straight on the sidewalk facing the airport, he could feel the same anxiety that coursed through his veins the second time he had found himself behind a curtain of the NMT award's stage. He had cursed himself for it back then, because none of this should have been as scary as it was. He had already done this, already beaten this anxiety, but there it was, coming back and ready to kick his ass a second time. His steady hands were his pride, his first tool to conquer a perfectly sharp eye liner wing or a smooth curve of paint, but here there were, shaking like leaves under harsh wind, rendering him helpless.

The thing is that he chose this moment to realize that as much as he had been over the whole 'teams' system at the beginning, he was forced admit that it made the responsability way less crushing. Now he only had himself to blame if he fucked up. He also only had himself to congratulate if he won, but even that felt a bit lackluster, a pale comparison in the happiness of having Kun- someone that was proud of him.

He scoffed at the memory as he hailed a taxi. He didn't know why his confidenced was snatched by small audiences of people, especially when he didn't have a lot to stress about. The theme was simple, 'upside down, inside out' or something of the sort, and he had realized a decent x ray inverted makeup in a record time.

And yes, Kun had done- Kun had done fucking magic. He had used something to cover his mouth and eyes, and used Ten's (Ten's!!!!) technique of hairspraying the rest of his face and his hairline with colorful dye. It had messed his skin up for a good week, but the results were so worth it. The places were you were supposed to have makeup had stayed blank, and the rest was a rainbow confetti mess.

Or maybe Ten had just turned into a rainbow confetti mess, that also was a possibility.

After they won the semi finals he didn't even think about Kun anyway, well not until phase two started on the 23rd, way-too-early in the morning, and came crashing the peaceful sleep he deserved after the hectic night that were semifinals.   
And it had started, like everything lately, with too-familiar obnoxious knocking at his hotel room door.

He had contemplated suffocating himself with a pillow for a hot second, maybe even two, before begrudgingly sitting up, soon enough standing up so he could open the godforsaken door. He looked like a mess but his now-former teammate had seen worse.  
Kun was, unsurprisingly, behind it, already looking showered and properly clothed. How he did that Ten had no idea. Why was he there? That wasn't any clearer.  
" Oh sorry " he had said upon taking Ten's disheveled and tired image in. " Did you oversleep again? "  
  
Ten emitted a muffled 'what' that had to be inteligible enough for Kun because it thankfully prompted him to go on.  
  
" It's 9 already. Well it's 9:10 now but you get the idea. " he said, showing his phone screen to prove his point.  
  
He may have found it endearing hadn't it be so early- okay it wasn't realistically that early, but between college and Kun being Kun today was the first day he could sleep in in weeks. At least he couldn't decipher malice in Kun's voice so this wasn't a trick, which was a good start.  
  
" And what if it is nine? " he continued, and his sleepy daze didn't keep him from missing the look of utter confusion on the other's face.  
  
" We...we agreed we would meet up at nine to work on our look didn't we? It's okay if you want me to come back later I guess, I-"  
  
" Kun, honey, do you realize we're not a team anymore?"  
  
And oh, maybe he wasn't that unhappy about being awake after all, because Kun's face had been a sight to behold. He looked so utterly confused and embarassed Ten could barely refrain a laugh.  
He decided not to continue the conversation, the view of Kun losing his composure being far too good for him to cut it short.  
  
" Oh wow so that happened. " he ended up saying, almost mirroring the younger's smile. "I uh, it was a reflex. And I'm hangover. "  
  
Ten had exaggeratly nodded, leaning into the doorframe. He was sooo going to take his time.  
Kun could take this as a payback for seeing him doubt-ridden, in his weakest state. It wasn't often the other stumbled.  
  
" Ah right, you're hangover. That's why you came here. "  
  
" Yes. "  
  
" Because of the alcool, Mhmh."  
  
" Don't torture me "  
  
He had finally allowed himself to laugh, and Kun looked seconds away from either punching him or digging a hole in the ground and trying to hide inside.  
He would have loved to be able to show the world the oh-so-professional Qian Kun crumbling in the palm of his hand because of a stupid mistake anyone could have brushed off in two seconds, but at the same time the idea of it being his secret was extremely alluring.  
  
" Okay " he said after a moment, " what about we pretend this was totally planned because we wanted to get breakfast together, and not because you're tremendously whipped? "  
  
" I've never heard of a better plan. "  
  
And it went well, it went so well because Kun was a stupid freaking idiot who wouldn't stop him if he started to ramble, wouldn't close himself off if Ten asked a question a tad too personnal to be asking a stranger, and who would captivate him with every piece of information he revealed.   
Breakfast had turned into a brunch and Ten only got back to his hotel room in the early afternoon. In hindsight, it was completely possible that Kun deliberately dragged him out so he would lose time on his look preparation- an idea he aborted because that would be a stupid startegy, since Kun would have shortened his own time as well.

He had this way of crawling his way into every little space Ten left vulnerable and fill the void with warm smiles and eye rolls. Ten was ready to be shattered by a rejection of his if that meant he had any chance of him saying yes. And he was in Taiwan already, so what the hell. Now that he was here, he could as well do the most of it. If it went bad, he could always blame it on Yangyang for making him believe his pining was requited- thanks to various messages of support, weirdly graphic kermit memes and a lovely "Remember protection and communication prevalue over getting action" which...fair enough although not what he had planned, but also way too fancy words for Yangyang and the prospect of Minnie writing that in his place was not out of the table, which made him more uncomfortable than he already was. 

He was so going to make a fool of himself.

Instagram bios be blessed, it wasn't overly hard to find the salon Kun worked at. What he didn't know was when he worked, which might be a problem. he would look stupid waiting in front of the shop with his suitcase in hand, but it was a risk he was ready to take. Oh god, and what if Kun didn't work on - he checked his phone- thursdays??? Maybe he sould have planned better.

But he was here because of his lack of spontaneity, surprisingly enough, so he would not fall into the same trap again.

Kun had won. He had won the awards by a small margin, but he had won. Pearl came third, and Akiko fourth. Ten, second.  
He was only barely mad about it.

That was not even the point, though. Somewhere between the end of the broadcast and the celebrating trip to a nearby restaurant, Kun had found him, arranging his stuff and trying to process that the adventure was over, finished. He had dedicated the past 10 days to it, and now the reality of it all was hitting him square in the face.

Meeting Kun, the team system, their fight, their reconciliation, their first win and Kun's second, that had all happened under ten days. Started in 10 days, finished after that. This had been a bubble, a leap from 'normal'. Ten had felt as if he had spent all this time sleeping, and now just woke up, already regretting his dream.

And Kun approached, and he was beaming, shining from his victory and makeup could go to hell, this was a good look.  
He had kissed Ten. He had freaking dared to kiss Ten, who short-circuited. He was not used to getting what he wanted. Most of the time, he did not even know what he wanted, and maybe that night he wasn't yet sure. He had pulled away, mumbled something about getting lipstick on Kun, and that was the last they talked since.

The last thing Ten was worried about was getting lipstick on Kun.  
(He still hadn't worn any today, just for good measure.)

He found the shop after a few minutes of strolling around and trying to look less lost than he was, and he quickly made his way in, debating wether or not he should take his suitcase with him.  
Lucky for him his internal struggle was cut short when a voice called for him, and he almost short-circuited again.

" Hi " he hurrily said, his words getting lost as his eyes fell on Kun. He had seen him a lot, but this was different. This was real-life Kun. This was everyday, casual Kun. Ten decided he liked this Kun too.

" Hi " he answered, not looking neither happy or angry, mostly just confused. Truth to be told the situation had to be confusing, at least somewhat so. 

" I..." he started, " I...congratulations. On winning. "

Kun nodded slowly, and for a second Ten got worried he had accidently spoken in Thai. He hadn't, because the other ended up answering " Well thank you, but you already told me that "

The younger hated him and his cluelesness sometimes. Spontaneity, he thought, spontaneity.

He put his hands on both sides of Kun's face and pulled him in, his brain completely shutting down when their lips met. He felt so different from the first kiss. His anxiety had skyrocketed then, thousands of red bipping alarms had gone off and every cell of his body started plotting for a way to escape. Silence was the most enjoyable thing he had experienced in a while. He decided that kissing Kun was peace, and he should do it more often.  
Take that, spontaneity.

When they parted the confusion had worn off, and Kun was smiling. " Right, you didn't tell me that " he said, and Ten playfully hit his chest.

" I'm sorry. " he whispered, knowing that the other would catch it.

" We each got our turn at messing up, haven't we? "

" Yeah " he laughed, and the anxiety shut up once again. " No more fucking up? "

" No more fucking up. I imagine you're going to stay for a while? " he asked, pointing to the suitcase that had been discarded to the side.

Right, the suitcase. " Well... Let's just say that the school year is over, and that i think my roomate found himself a co-tenant. I planned on staying for a week, but theoritically if i really wanted to stay, i could "

Kun rolled his eyes, but didn't even try to hide his smile, and Ten felt like he belonged.

" Well if that's the case, let me invite you to stay at my apartment. Solely to avoid hotel fees, of course. "

" Of course " answered Ten with a smile.

Later when they finally got into the shop, the manager had stared at Ten with wide eyes.  
" It's the first time he ever arrived late " she had said, and he had shot her his proudest smile.

\--------------------------------------------  
" Sawadeekrub, this is Ten! "

" And Dajia hao, I am Kun"

They sat next to each other on the floor of Kun's living room, that had gone through a few changes in the past months. The most notable was not one, but two cat trees that proudly stood next to the TV.

" First of all, we wanted to thank you for the support on the NMT awards video. It hasn't been an easy ride, but I'm happy that we could make something out of it for you everyone. It means a lot for me to be heard, especially when I have something intelligent to say, for once " continued Ten.

It truly had been fantastical, and remained to this day his most viewed video by far. Kun rarely appeared on the channel, this wasn't his world, but he liked the occasionnal participation and way-less occasionnal disruptions to his boyfriend's activities. Pearl became a more reccurent face though, and even Akiko had appeared a few times. 

" Secondly, I had a lot of requests for an actual 'my boyfriend does my makeup' challenge. Guys, as much as I love you, the whole beauty of this challenge is to do it ironically. My boyfriend " he said as he nudged Kun towards him, " is a freaking makeup artist. Not fun. "

Kun confusedly nodded, having no idea as to what Ten was saying- one doesen't pick up Thai in a few months, but it was the intention that mattered.

" So we discussed, and instead we decided to do another variant..."

And made a little head signal towards Kun, who went off-camera and came back with a child in toe, too big to be carried now but as adorable as ever as he waved to the camera enthusiastically.

" ... my boyfriend's nephew does my makeup! " he proudly announced, now switching to mandarin, to Kun's delight.

Zhaohui gave all his might to the task, but it went about as well as you might expect. At the end Ten slightly ressembled a coloring book, and he was pretty sure a fake lash was gued to his hair.

That was peace, thought Kun. Their cats that Ten called his children, their silliness in front of the camera, his laugh as Zhaohui tried and failed at eye-liner. His brother's smile when he finally came out, his racing heart when he met Minnie and Yangyang, Ten's umprompted kisses and the smiles he shot him, that always meant 'I'm proud of you'.

That was peace, and Kun was ready to indulge in it more often.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy, look at who isn't dead!!
> 
> This chapter was HARD. Like really hard to write, and I realized that maybe I should have ended the contest after the team challenge, but hey what is done is done. I ended up being satisfied with this version of it, though it feels more like an epilogue than a last chapter. Please excuse the shorter word count, I didn't feel like drawing it longer than it should be.
> 
> This story was quite a ride, as it is the one with the less plot I have ever written, meaning developping the story was a real challenge that I'm glad I tried myself at. There is room for growth, and that's perfect!  
> Thank you for being here for it, especially to the people who read this each week when a chapter came out, it means everything to me. I hope I will see some of you again the next time I post something!
> 
> (About that, I haven't been inactive this extra-week, and I kind of have 10 000 words written already so :DDD That is going to happen and I am so hyped for it)
> 
> Again thank you, goodbye, and I hope, see you soon!


End file.
